Quinton Nydegger fails to have jail sentence cut for dousing friend in petrol, setting him on fire

A former construction worker who doused his so-called friend with petrol and set him alight has failed to have his almost seven-year jail sentence cut on appeal.

Nydegger was initially sentenced in Wollongong District Court in 2023. Picture: Dylan Arvela

A former construction worker who doused his so-called friend with petrol and set him alight has failed to have his almost seven-year jail sentence cut on appeal.

Lawyers for Quinton Chester Nydegger sought to convince the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal that the 44-year-old’s sentence of six years and nine months was unreasonably long and should be reduced, despite the horrific act leaving the 52-year-old victim with life-changing injuries and severe PTSD.

According to court documents, Nydegger and the victim were former friends who had had a falling out sometime prior to June 2022, when Nydegger reached out to the man asking to catch up.

The victim agreed to spend the night at Nydegger’s sister’s property at Saddleback Mountain.

Nydegger collected the man from Kiama train station and drove him back to the address, parking next to the house before grabbing a 600ml soft drink bottle filled with petrol from the veranda.

Nydegger, pictured wearing a snake as a hat in an undated social media photo, will be eligible to apply for parole in 2026.

Nydegger approached the man, who was still getting out of the car and threw the petrol over him before igniting the fuel.

“What have you done?” the man screamed as the flames engulfed him as well as the car.

“What have you done? What have I done? Why? Why?”

Nydegger, who has a long-standing diagnosis of chronic schizophrenia but was on reduced medication at the time, later told police and his psychologist that he believed the victim had threatened him in the car, prompting him to react violently.

However, the court heard Nydegger ultimately accepted that nothing had been said and he’d been gripped by delusion.

Meanwhile, Nydegger fled the property in a second vehicle, calling triple-0 as he drove away to report a man had been burnt on the property.

The victim managed to flag down a passing motorcyclist for help. He was flown to the Royal North Shore Hospital for emergency treatment.

Police arrested Nydegger the following day after he returned to the property.

The court heard the victim suffered burns to 11 per cent of his body and has since undergone five medical procedures, including multiple skin grafts, with more expected in the future.

“When I look in the mirror I see a different person,” the man told Wollongong District Court during his sentencing hearing.

“The skin from my leg is now on my face … my smile has changed. I had a large tattoo of a turtle on my back, but it has now been decapitated. My old friend PTSD has come back into my life since this crime.”

Nydegger pleaded guilty to a charge of throwing explosive fluid on a person with intent to burn, maim, disfigure or disable.

Judge Andrew Haelser set a non-parole period of four years and nine months.

In arguing the appeal, Nydegger’s lawyers claimed the head sentence and non-parole period were excessive given his poor mental state at the time and the spontaneity of the act.

However, the three-judge panel found the original sentence was neither unreasonable, nor unjust.

“Sight must not be lost of the fact that the applicant pleaded guilty to an offence which has as an essential ingredient the applicant’s intention to burn, maim, disfigure or disable the victim,” the panel explained in its written judgment, handed down in December.

“The applicant has not demonstrated that the sentence imposed by the judge was outside the appropriate range of sentences.”

With time served, Nydegger will be eligible for parole in 2026.