SET FIRE TO HOUSE

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30528, 25 August 1964, Page 18

SET FIRE TO HOUSE

Six Months’ Imprisonment Cft’.Z. Press Association) PALMERSTON NORTH, August 24. Six months’ imprisonment, with a recommendation that he be given psychiatric treatment, was imposed on Alexander Raymond Jamieson, aged 49, when he appeared before Mr D. G. Sinclair, S.M., today for sentence on a charge of wilfully setting fire to a dwelling house in Te Matai road, Whakarongo, on April 23. The Magistrate said there were mitigating circumstances at the personal level. Accused had not set fire to the house for gain or monetary profit. The court accepted the plea that he had meant no harm to his wife and family, but was under the impression that the fire would force his wife to return to their former home. For the accused, Mr K. H. Mason said accused’s fondness for liquor might have been to his detriment and eventually led to the break-up of his family. For several weeks before the fire, and also on the night of it, accused had been in a highly emotional state, a victim of suspicions. He remembered nothing about the fire, and was emphatic that he had meant no harm to his wife and family, a statement which received some support from his wife herself.