Clint Ngaharare Karaitiana pleads guilty to arson in Cairns District Court

A man with an extensive criminal history poured petrol on a woman’s car and set it alight, but Cairns District Court heard they were strangers to each other.

A woman whose car was set alight is almost $10,000 out of pocket and the arsonist received a parole eligibility date coinciding with his Cairns District Court appearance and guilty plea on Thursday.

The court heard 11 days after he was released on parole, on November 20, 2022, Clint Ngaharare Karaitiana, 36, went to a Manoora address and tried unsuccessfully to gain entry to the house.

He then went to a shed, siphoned petrol from a motorbike, poured it over the woman’s Suzuki Swift and set it alight.

Prosecutor Christian Peters said the woman tried to extinguish the fire with dirt and put herself at risk trying to retrieve possessions from it.

The court heard Karaitiana was not known to the woman, who copped a $9000 repair bill for the car and is $730 out of pocket on Uber fares and lost work opportunities due to lack of transport.

Karaitiana has an extensive criminal history with Supreme and District Court sentencings in 2017 and 2018, and the court heard he was serving a prison sentence of seven years and one month, which had started prior to his Supreme Court sentence in February 2017.

The court heard he had spent about six and a half years of that period in custody.

Mr Peters said Karaitiana was returned to custody for further offending and non-compliance with parole, suspended sentence and probation orders.

He was sentenced to 15 months in Cairns Magistrates Court in January, to be served cumulatively with the previous sentence.

Mr Peters said Karaitiana had 277 days in pre-sentence custody, while still serving his previous sentence.

Defence barrister Rachelle Logan said Karaitiana was the victim of sexual violence aged 10, had mental health diagnoses including paranoid schizophrenia, and had no memory of the arson as he had been drinking.

Clint Ngaharare Karaitiana, 36, was convicted of arson in Cairns District Court on Thursday. Picture: Supplied

She said he became a father at 16 years and had children aged 20, 18, 17 and 15 years, and first went to jail aged 20.

“Upon his release he spent nine months in New Zealand and that is when he was introduced to methamphetamine and he has been a consistent user of that drug since then,” Ms Logan said.

She said from 2009 to 2015 Karaitiana was out of the criminal justice system because he was working on fishing trawlers.

Judge Dean Morzone KC sentenced Karaitiana to 22 months prison, took the 277 days into account but did not declare it time served, and set a parole eligibility date of August 24.

“It was unusual and bizarre offending with a lack of any previous connection with those people,” Judge Morzone said.

“It does seem as though you were likely under the influence of a substance which had disordered your brain – I can’t use that as way to reduce your sentence but it helps me understand,” he said.

He noted Karaitiana had a history of violence with an assault occasioning bodily harm conviction in 2009 and grievous bodily harm in 2018 but most of his offending was less serious.

Karaitiana was charged with grievous bodily harm in 2016 following a brutal car park assault where the victim suffered life threatening head injuries.

Judge Morzone noted Karaitiana was a sexual violence victim and that he was on “a cocktail of medications” for mental health conditions.

“I am not satisfied you should make restitution … it may be a matter for you in future to ask your lawyers if these people can be compensated for something they never deserved,” Judge Morzone said.

Originally published as Clint Ngaharare Karaitiana pleads guilty to arson in Cairns District Court