Jane Catherine Judd pleads guilty to 40km Yorke Peninsula arson spree, told police ‘I do stupid s**t when I’m high’

High on meth, angry about a family squabble and armed with burning toilet paper, this Yorke Peninsula woman went on a 40km arson spree.

A meth user who set almost 40km of Yorke Peninsula farming land alight on the first day of bushfire season told police “I do stupid s**t when I’m high”, a court has heard.

In the District Court on Tuesday, Jane Catherine Judd apologised to the communities she had put at risk by throwing lit toilet paper out the window of her car last November.

David Moen, for Judd, said the incident had served as a wake-up call for his client, who turned to drugs due to familial dysfunction.

Jane Catherine Judd pleaded guilty to two counts of lighting a bushfire. Picture: Supplied

“She told police ‘I do stupid s**t when I’m high’ … it’s inevitable she’ll serve a term of imprisonment, I’m not going to ask for a suspended or home detention sentence,” he said.

Jane Catherine Judd during a police interview after her arrest. Picture: Supplied

“To quote (self-help author) Eckhart Tolle, ‘the fires of suffering have become the light of consciousness’.

“This was a deflection of her own anger that ended up deflecting on to the community.”

Judge Anthony Allen was more succinct, saying: “To use the vernacular, she has just snapped.”

Judd, 48, of Minlaton, pleaded guilty to two counts of causing a bushfire over six blazes spanning a 37km area between Agery and Maitland on November 6, 2021.

The fire warning that day was high, with farming machinery required to stop, and the temperature was 30C.

On Tuesday, the court heard each fire was contained without injury to people or damage to property, but a CFS report had concluded the potential risk was high.

“With a less-capable response, the fires would have burned out of control and caused millions of dollars of damage to crops, houses, townships and people,” it said.

“It would also have damaged the topsoil, affecting food production in the region.”

Mr Moen said his client’s longstanding substance abuse issues “explained, but could not excuse” her conduct.

“A breakdown in her relationship with her son caused her to relive the breakdown in her relationship with her own parents,” he said.

“That caused her to get angry, more so at herself than anyone else … she had been off drugs for a very long time, this caused her to relapse into using.”

He conceded members of the public had spotted Judd getting more paper from a public toilet, and that his client had continued lighting fires despite “almost being caught”.

“She was also renting a home from a CFS volunteer at the time,” he said.

Judge Allen said Judd’s personal circumstances “excited sympathy” but the lack of damage caused had little to do with her, and therefore could not weigh in her favour.

“There was a most admirable response from the CFS and the community – the reality is their action prevented what could have been a complete disaster,” he said.

He remanded her in custody for sentencing at a later date.