Man to be sentenced for lighting friend on fire
A New South Wales man who was set on fire, did not hold a grudge against his attacker who was also his friend.
Berkley man Michael Vella spent five days in hospital last year, after his friend Aaron Lord doused him in lighter fluid and set him on fire, reports the Illawarra Mercury.
While Mr Vella suffered burns to five per cent of his body, it has been claimed that he had every intention of speaking on behalf of Mr Lord at his sentencing hearing at Sutherland District Court on Thursday.
However the court was told that Mr Vella died earlier this month. Defence lawyer Laura Fennell identified him as the man whose body was found floating in Wollongong Harbour on March 19.
"His father tells me Mr Vella had epilepsy, and believes that may have played a part in his death," Ms Fennell told the court, according to the Illawarra Mercury.
Despite Mr Vella’s death, Mr Lord will still be sentenced for injuring him last May.
According to court documents the incident occurred after the pair had watched the State of Origin with friends at a house in Figtree.
After the others went to bed, Mr Lord poured lighter fluid over Mr Vella and then lit a piece of toilet paper and threw it at him.
Mr Lord then left the house, while his friends helped Mr Vella who had caught alight.
Mr Vella was taken to Wollongong Hospital, before being transferred to the Concord Hospital burns unit. While Mr Lord was arrested in Unanderra a short time later.
Ms Fennell has asked the court to take into account a brain injury Mr Lord received in 2009, as well as his diagnosed bipolar and substance abuse dependence disorders, when they sentence him.
Mr Lord will also been sentenced for breaking into a Wollongong unit in 2012, where he changed into a female occupant’s jeans. He also stole a Swiss army knife which he later used to terrorise people.
Mr Lord will be sentenced next month.
News break – March 27