Man who lit church fire detained on mental health grounds

Sinele Katoa, 42, was charged last year with arson after the church was destroyed. Police were called to Katoa’s home, where he lived with his parents, four times in the month before the fire at St Mary’s, after he became aggressive in talking about his psychotic ideas.

After psychological assessments while in remand at the Mason Clinic after the fire, Katoa was deemed not guilty by reason of insanity.

Judge Claire Ryan oversaw a disposition hearing on March 12 to determine Katoa’s ongoing detainment and treatment. The court heard that psychiatrist Dr Ian Goodwin had assessed Katoa as having undiagnosed schizophrenia, which he had been “labouring with” for many years before the St Mary’s Church fire.

A report from Dr Goodwin outlined that on the night of his offending Katoa was “acutely psychotic”. He had been receiving auditory hallucinations for about three years before the offending.

“He believed God had to be punished for humiliating his father and he believed the church needed to burn down to do that,” Judge Ryan read in court. Katoa’s psychotic state led him to “target a church to teach God a lesson”.

However, it was noted that “even when delusional he was thinking of others” because Katoa intentionally chose to light the fire at night when it would be safer with no people around.

Dr Goodwin reported that since being detained at the Mason Clinic, Katoa has been making “great progress” from his anti-psychotic medication and judged his risk of reoffending as low.

“Now that Mr Katoa has been treated he is very aware of what he’s done, he’s very remorseful for it and has a great deal of grief for the community,” Dr Goodwin said.

In determining Katoa’s future management, Judge Ryan decided to implement section 25 1.a of the Mentally Impaired Persons Act (2003) – which is an alternative available if the defendant is unfit to stand trial or insane. This ordered that the defendant be treated as a patient under the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992.

Judge Ryan said she was satisfied by the low risk outlined by Goodwin.

This means Katoa will continue to be treated at the Mason Clinic until the treating clinicians decide he is ready to be released for community treatment. If this takes longer than six months, it will need to be reassessed by a judge.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Avondale parish priest Fr Andrew Matthew described how the $2.5 million insurance payout for the church would only cover half of the $5m estimate to rebuild, for which the congregation will have to fundraise.

“The community has stopped. The flock are going to other places because there is no church to bring them back,” Fr Matthew said.

There have been some outdoor Masses celebrated at the parish.

FULL STORY

Man who burned Avondale church to continue mental health detention (By Tom Dillane/New Zealand Herald)

Facebook (St Mary’s Avondale)