Conversion, and confession

Press, 16 August 1978, Page 15

Conversion, and confession

PA Wellington A man who caused a $210,000 fire in Wellington confessed after being converted to Christianity, the Crown prosecutor (A’- K. G. Stone) told the Supreme Court in Wellington. Patrick David Rau, aged 30. a machinist, wh< had pleaded guilty in the Magistrate’s Court to charges of arson and burglary committed in 1975, was sentenced to six months periodic detention by Mr Justice O’Regan. Mr Stone said the fire in Willis Street on September 25. 1975. extensively damaged three buildings, and because of its intensity nothing was left to indicate its cause. It paralysed the inner city area, endangered firemen, and caused about $210,000 worth of damage. Last month Rau came to the Wellington C. 1.8. with a minister of religion and confessed that he lit the fire after breaking into the premises of Smith and Loye, electrical contractors. He had looked for something to steal, but most of what he saw was electrical equipment there for repair. He was very tired and went to sleep. When he woke up he lit a fire with a stack of paper he made from drawers

;in a desk, then left the building. He could offer no reason-' able explanation why he set I fire to the paper. He told the poliu he con- ; fessed of his own free will as since 1975 he had become a Christian and wanted to {clear the matter from his ; mind. His 1 onout said it was a I wanton, senseless crime. i In December. 1975, Rau! | had been sentenced to two years jail on several charges of burglary and no doubt had the present offences come io light then he would have received a concurrent jail sentence for them, he , said. At first he was a recalcit-l rant prisoner who gave a great deal of trouble to the prison authorities. But toward the end of his sentence he had come under the in-1 fluence of a minister of the] Church of Christ and that had played a significant part in his reformation. His Honour said it was clear that Rau had led a stable life since his release; and had played an active’ part in assisting and guiding prison parolees. The present matter had; troubled his conscience so; much he had come forward; to confess his crime, which I was highly creditable, said; his Honour.