'You destroyed our past': Family lost treasured keepsakes in business park arson

As a couple sifted through the charred remains of their storage locker, they said “shock and disbelief” turned into “devastation” as they realised all of their family’s priceless memories were gone. 

This week, Nicole Butler, standing with her husband Andrew Smith, told the Manukau District Court about the impact the loss of more than 50 years of photo albums, keepsakes and hand-me-downs had on their lives after an industrial arson. 

Janus Breytenbach, 31, earlier pleaded guilty to the arson at the Waiuku Business Park, South Auckland, last November, which caused around $650,000 in damage to the Future Post recycling centre, other businesses, and several storage containers leased on the property. 

“You single-handedly destroyed both Andrew and my past with the simple click of a lighter,” Butler told the court. 

The agreed summary of facts said around 20 businesses are tenants of the park on Kitchener Rd in Waiuku. 

Future Post, which recycles plastic waste and turns it into fence posts and other products, has a fenced office and factory on the site as well as a “dispatch yard” at the end of a long driveway. 

The dispatch yard is used to store materials and at the time of the fire, there was also a “large pile of plastic rubbish” in its car park as well as shipping containers. 

Breytenbach was living in a commercial building in the park, next to Future Post, and on November 24 of last year, around 10.30pm, he left home and walked to a nearby petrol station. 

He bought a lighter and two energy drinks, and CCTV footage showed him walking back to the car park carrying “several pieces” of cardboard. 

He unlocked the front gate of the yard, walked in, moved out of the sight of CCTV cameras and started a fire. 

He was captured, however, walking away from an area where smoke began to emanate and he looked back several times. 

Causing significant damage, the fire spread across the yard and up the hillside, catching on wooden pallets under the containers before engulfing them in fire. 

Future Post’s plastic was left melted and destroyed. 

Twenty-seven Fire and Emergency New Zealand fire engines attended the scene. After an initial examination, the fire was deemed to be suspicious. 

A fire investigation later declared it had been lit with an “open flame device” such as a lighter. 

The summary of facts stated the amount lost by Future Post was likely more than $500,000 and the company lost about two days of production with the initial clean-up. 

Victims’ losses 

None of the around $10,000 worth of equipment Shaun Maxwell kept in a container for his roofing business was salvageable. 

Leon Robbie lost around $31,000 worth of stored goods while Butler and Smith were leasing a container while they built a house. 

The furniture and personal belongings, worth around $73,000, included items with significant sentimental value such as photo albums covering their children’s early years, weddings and memories of their deceased parents. 

Firefighters from across the Auckland region backed up Waiuku volunteers as they battled the blaze last November. Photo / Hayden Woodward 

They also lost their children’s school medals, certificates and other sentimental gifts and mementos. 

Breytenbach later told police he didn’t mean for the fire to happen and “suggested” it may have come from a cannabis cigarette butt he threw in the bin. 

“I didn’t know it was going to be that huge,” he told police. 

In a recorded interview with police, he said despite walking to the scene with cardboard, he “didn’t mean for it to happen”. 

He explained he took the cardboard, placed it in a green bin and pulled out a bag of cannabis. 

He then lit a joint and put it out in the bin, where surrounding leaves caught alight, but he claimed to have no way to put it out. 

He left, throwing away the lighter, the summary said, and he didn’t call for help as his phone was on low battery and he could already hear the sirens. 

‘Shock and disbelief’ 

Butler told the court she would “never forget” getting a call from the owner of the storage facility asking if she had seen the news and informing her that “nothing” from the container had survived. 

They first felt “shock and disbelief”, she said, followed by numbness until they were able to take a look at what was left of their container. 

It was sitting at 45 degrees, and she said the disbelief soon turned into “absolute devastation” as they filtered through the remains. 

“To say this was gut-wrenching and soul-destroying is an understatement.” 

Some of the irreplaceable items lost included photo albums of her children that they could never show their grandchildren, as well as albums of their own childhoods. 

Also gone were photos of Smith’s recently deceased parents, wedding photos, their children’s first shoes, blankets, and teddies. 

She’d lost a Pink Panther soft toy that her father gave her when she was 10 and gifted to her on her 40th birthday, saving up for months to send it from South Africa. 

She mourned the loss of the dolls that belonged to her, her grandmother, mother and daughter that would never be passed on to their grandchildren. 

Last year was particularly hard for the pair, as Smith lost both his parents, and the hand-me-downs “carefully chosen” by the deceased were also gone. 

“They wanted to be a part of our future even though they knew they wouldn’t be there in person. 

“You took that away from not only us, but from them too.” 

Aftermath of the Waiuku fire. Photo / Michael Craig 

At a time when most people were getting excited for Christmas, she said they were throwing their decorations onto a “huge pile of charred nothingness”. 

They had nothing from their pasts, which she said had been erased by Breytenbach and the only consolation was that no one died or was injured by the fire. 

Judge Ngaroma Tahana also touched on the impact the fire had on the other victims, including Future Post founder Jerome Wenzlick. 

The judge said Future Post had suffered such financial pressure from the fire it had almost had to shut up shop. 

The loss that joiner Greg Belcher, who also rented a container suffered, caused him stress, tension, anger and mood swings which also impacted his whānau, Judge Tahana said. 

Crown lawyer Aysser Al-Janabi said the lighting of the fire was intentional, while Breytenbach’s lawyer Jessica Tarrant said it was only “reckless”. 

Tarrant said that her client had been drinking and smoking cannabis at the time of the fire and suffered from a lifelong “chromosomal issue”. 

While the issue would not be discussed in open court, she said it meant his mental age was far younger than his actual age and caused him to become intoxicated “more readily”. 

“[The issue] limits his ability to self-correct,” Tarrant said. 

Judge Tahana outlined that the key aggravating feature of the arson was the significant loss for the victims and emotional harm. 

“I hope that you do take the time to try and understand the pain and trauma that you have caused.” 

Her calculations showed there was around $650,000 worth of damage. 

While she admitted the fire was not sophisticated, it was premeditated. 

She also spoke of the potential danger of fire on the many first responders who fought the blaze. 

Tarrant sought a sentence discount for the man’s background features, alcohol use disorder, chromosomal “issue,” and guilty plea. 

Judge Tahana said that because of Breytenbach’s age and previous sexual and driving convictions, she would not be giving as much of a discount. 

She also tempered any discounts for background by the fact that the man had high school and university qualifications and had managed to hold down a job for a period of time. 

Janus Breytenbach was on electronically monitored bail for eight months before sentencing. Photo / Michael Craig 

She took into account his letter of remorse, offer to pay $2000 in reparation to the victims, early guilty plea and time on electronically monitored bail. 

She sentenced him to two years and four months’ imprisonment. 

The judge acknowledged the victims present in court, saying she would not be ordering any reparation, as Breytenbach would be in prison and without the means. 

Outside court, Butler and Smith told NZME they were happy with the sentencing outcome and that it was all over. 

“It’ll give him time to reflect on what he’s actually done,” Butler said. 

Smith said it was “gut-wrenching” that the only thing they had left from the fire was his late father’s personalised number plate. 

“It’s all framed up now in the new home,” he said. 

Wenzlick said he felt “alright” about the outcome and hadn’t expected any “financial redress”. 

“We can replace some plastic, but [Butler and Smith] can’t replace their [personal items].” 

Ella Scott-Fleming has been a journalist for three years and previously worked at the Otago Daily Times, Gore Ensign and Metro Magazine. She has an interest in court and general reporting. She’s currently based in Auckland covering justice-related stories.