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# Face of the Day
- URL: https://goodoil.news/face-of-the-day-1590/
- Published: 2026-09-27T17:30:35.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-27T17:30:34.000Z
- Description: The judge ordered a four-year starting point, two years below what the Crown sought but four months above the defence’s suggestion. He then allowed 50 per cent in reductions for his guilty pleas and for matters related to his drug addiction.
- Author: Good Oil Staff
- Tags: Face of the Day

> A tenant who was in the process of being evicted from his West Auckland home removed his belongings, then splashed petrol throughout the building and set it alight.  
>  
> But it wasn’t the eviction that prompted him to destroy the home and endanger the lives of his neighbours; it was instead an episode of meth-induced psychosis in which he was convinced the house had evil spirits, a court has been told.   
>  
> Parihaka Teawa O’Connor, 41, is much better now that he has spent nine months at the Grace Foundation rehab facility, defence lawyer Baden Meyer told Judge David Sharp last week as his client appeared in the dock at Auckland District Court for sentencing. He asked for a non-custodial sentence.  
>  
> The judge agreed it would be best for O’Connor and the wider community if he continued rehabilitation. He ordered a sentence of 12 months’ home detention for that arson, as well as a second arson that occurred months later.  
>  
> “You need to know you can’t behave in this way,” the judge told O’Connor. “People can be hurt and killed as a result of fires. It’s always regarded as serious.” \[...\]  
>  
> The court was not given a dollar amount for the property loss but was told the [entire dwelling was destroyed](https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/06/21/two-properties-damaged-by-fire-in-aucklands-swanson/?ref=goodoil.news). A neighbour’s house was also damaged, but firefighters were able to save it. \[...\]  
>  
> The next arson occurred four months later, while O’Connor was living out of his father’s Toyota Hilux. He drove the vehicle to Swanson Reserve around 7am, smashed a window, then set it on fire and left the scene. \[...\]  
>  
> O’Connor also pleaded guilty to barging into his parents’ home after he’d been trespassed and causing extensive damage to their gate when he drove through it.  
>  
> But he had no prior convictions before the recent spree and has been deemed a low risk of reoffending if he keeps up with his drug rehab efforts, the judge noted.  
>  
> The defendant changed his pleas to guilty earlier this year, following a psychological report suggesting he was fit to stand trial. Arson endangering life is punishable by up to 14 years’ imprisonment.  
>  
> Prosecutor Conrad Purdon characterised the offending as a premeditated and spiteful response to O’Connor’s landlord trying to evict him. \[...\]  
>  
> “What he said was he was trying to rid the property of demons,” the judge noted. “I really struggle to see that as a malicious form of arson.”  
>  
> [NZ Herald](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/crime/swanson-arsons-parihaka-oconnor-sentenced-for-burning-down-auckland-home/TRQAF77MWFBHTCBKWIAQM2PSH4/?ref=goodoil.news). 

[Read more](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/crime/swanson-arsons-parihaka-oconnor-sentenced-for-burning-down-auckland-home/TRQAF77MWFBHTCBKWIAQM2PSH4/?ref=goodoil.news)