Mother returns just in time to save toddlers after woman lit house on fire and fled

Two toddlers watching television just metres from a deliberately lit fire were saved only because their mother returned home from a night out minutes after the blaze began. 

Desiree Hirawani, now 21, who lit the fire and fled, leaving the children behind, has now been sent to prison. 

But Judge Glen Marshall made that decision with little enthusiasm. 

He found Hirawani, who is mentally compromised and struggling with addiction, did not belong behind bars. However, he concluded she was probably safer in prison than on the street using methamphetamine and hoped the sentence would lead to treatment. 

Defence lawyer Nadine Baier argued strongly against imprisonment. 

“It is with a great deal of reluctance that I am going to impose a sentence of imprisonment today,” Judge Marshall told her, before explaining that he would grant her leave to apply for home detention, should a bed become available in a rehabilitation facility. 

“I don’t see prison as a desirable course as far as an ultimate sentence, but I hope it can be a pathway that probation can sit down with you and get you into a suitable property.” 

Meanwhile, Hirawani looked everywhere but at the judge, before glancing towards her mother in the public gallery and being taken to the cells. 

Court documents state that Hirawani and her cousin went to the victim’s Hamilton house to socialise about 10pm on June 29, 2024. 

A couple of hours later, the cousin and the victim decided to visit a friend. 

Hirawani agreed to look after the sleeping children. 

However, early in the morning, Hirawani noticed a petrol container in the laundry with its lid screwed on. 

The container had been used the day before to fill a lawnmower and had been placed in a tub out of reach of the children. 

Around 6am, Hirawani splashed petrol around the laundry, including on the floor and clothes, before lighting it. 

Once the fire began, Hirawani ran past the two children, who were now awake and were a few metres away from the laundry, in the lounge watching TV. 

Hirawani made no attempt to seek help or call 111 before leaving the property. 

The mother returned home six minutes later, found the house ablaze, and rescued her two children. 

Apart from mild smoke inhalation, they were uninjured, but the Kāinga Ora house suffered “extensive” damage. 

‘I agree, prison is not ideal’ 

At the sentencing in Hamilton District Court, Judge Marshall explained the case had been drawn out because counsel and probation tried to get Hirawani to engage with them around rehabilitation. 

Baier pointed to “complexities of this case”, including that Hirawani, who was supported in court by a communications assistant, was “particularly vulnerable” and had a diminished intellectual capacity. 

Judge Marshall said he agreed with everything Baier said but Hirawani remained untreated and appeared to be on the “street using”. 

The 21-year-old was sentenced in the Hamilton District Court. 

“If nothing is done by way of intervention, then it’s just going to go from bad to worse, really,” he said. 

“She’s not going to have a future. 

“I agree, prison is not ideal.” 

It would, however, allow probation to speak with her about residential rehabilitation. 

Baier said intensive supervision would give her something to comply with. 

Hirawani had been turned down by the treatment facility Odyssey House, and then couldn’t make another appointment. 

The judge said: “Do we just let her slide haplessly, rudderless, or put some structure to get her into a residence?” 

Prison was ”never a good option”, he said, “but it’s the only option to then get a better one”. 

Baier sought a discount of up to 65%, to take into account Hirawani’s lack of criminal history, low IQ, “complex” background factors, guilty plea, youth, mental health issues and addiction. 

Crown prosecutor James Lewis suggested an overall discount of 50% to 55%. 

Judge Marshall said Hirawani was “placed in a situation that she should never have been placed in”. 

”... Hirawani was completely ill-equipped to look after children and it was a circumstance she was placed in not by her choosing but with some reluctance.” 

He took an overall starting point of four years and six months’ imprisonment before discounting six months for her reduced capacity. 

The judge then allowed a 60% discount for all other factors, including Hirawani’s drug addiction, before jailing her for 19 months. 

He granted her leave to apply for home detention if a bed became available at a residential rehabilitation facility. 

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.