Sandra Lee Cootes pleads guilty to $400k Whitsundays boat arson

Chilling details can be revealed about the moment a woman doused her partner’s yacht in fuel and set it on fire before water police begged her to jump in the water.

A woman deliberately doused her partner’s boat in petrol and set it on fire, causing an almost $400k damage bill.

It was a nightmare end to the couple’s epic sea voyage from New Zealand to Australia on the 40-ft yacht he had built from scratch.
Confronting footage played in court captured the moment Sandra Lee Cootes held a flame above the fuel soaked back of a boat, threatening to burn the vessel as it was moored in the Whitsundays in 2022.

Water police are heard telling the 54-year-old to “put the fire overboard” and warning against the dangerous conduct.

But part of the burning item she held dropped into the accelerant and flames quickly spread engulfing the boat.

“Jump in the water now … do you want to die, get in the water now”, the officers repeatedly yelled at Cootes who leapt into Airlie Bay – but not before she suffered burn injuries to her legs totalling about 40 per cent of her body.

Now residing in Southport while on bail, Cootes appeared in Mackay District Court via videolink and pleaded guilty to arson as a domestic violence offence on September 9, 2022.

Sandra Lee Cootes leaves Southport Courthouse after pleaded guilty to arson, over setting her former partner boat on fire in the Whitsundays. Picture: Emily Walker/Gold Coast Bulletin

The court heard the now 57 year old New Zealand national had spent about three months in pre sentence custody following her arrest that same day.

Her barrister Scott McLennan argued Cootes should avoid more time in jail because there were enough factors in her favour including her serious injuries and her fragile state at the time that putting her back behind bars wasn’t needed.

He said she had intended to put the flame out when the fire occurred.

“She didn’t understand that the boat had been lost until days after the event. She didn’t understand … that it was irrecoverable,” Mr McLennan said.

But Crown prosecutor Rana Aldas pushed Cootes to return to custody.
The court heard Cootes and the victim had been in an on/off relationship for about 18 months and it was accepted it was an unhappy one. The had sailed from New Zealand to the Whitsundays before the offending occurred.

The court heard she was hospitalised for taking pills in the days leading up and also banned from returning to the boat.

On her release from hospital the morning of the offence she met up with her former partner, they socialised and were drinking, and he allowed her to return to the boat to collect some of her.

Once on-board they argued, she tried to start multiple fires her former partner was initially able to douse and she threatened to burn his boat.
The court heard he had left the vessel before she doused the back in fuel and lit the fire which resulted in the boat burning and sinking.

The blaze could be seen across Airlie Beach. Picture: Facebook

Ms Aldas said the boat was valued about $350,000 and there had been a $42,196 quote to remove the yacht from the sea floor.

Reading from a victim impact statement Ms Aldas said the incident had been extremely hard on Cootes’ former partner who had lost most of his personal belongings and family heirlooms in the fire.

She said he had hand built the boat by himself.

“It was his pride and joy and he describes even many years after being completely devastated to not have his boat in his life,” Ms Aldas said.

It was accepted Cootes had been vulnerable and suffering with her mental health at the time.

But Ms Aldas argued this should not be considered an overwhelming mitigating factor.

“She was determined to threaten harm to the boat,” Ms Aldas said.

Judge Michael Burnett adjourned the sentencing hearing until a later date.

Originally published as Sandra Lee Cootes pleads guilty to $400k Whitsundays boat arson