Mattress identified as ignition point of fatal fire

A fatal fire in New Plymouth started on a mattress exposed to an open flame, a forensic fire investigator has told a jury.

Leigh Matthew Frederick Beer is on trial, charged with arson and murder following the death of 21-year-old Emma Field in May 2022.

The 31-year-old man is also charged with assault with intent to injure.

The Crown alleged that after an evening of drinking and drug use, Beer overturned a bed Field was sleeping in, set the mattress on fire and left her to burn to death.

Beer has denied the accusations, with his defense team arguing that the charges against him were circumstantial and that someone else could have started the fire.

On Monday, the jury heard from fire investigator Russell Joseph, who reconstructed the scene of the fire.

He said, based on all known factors, the mattress was set on fire between 10:50 p.m. and 10:53 p.m. “with an open flame introduced into a flammable material” long enough for the ignition to be self-sustaining.

The Crown alleged Beer started the fire using a combination of a cigarette lighter and a butane lighter after being left outside the Devon Street West address at 10:46 p.m. by friends who were visiting city ​​without him.

CCTV footage shows him returning to the apartment in the divided villa where his partner had gone to bed earlier, upset by his antics during the meeting.

Joseph told the jury he reached his conclusion about where the fire started after systematically ruling out other common ignition sources, including wall outlets, multi-cards, household appliances, lights, candles and cigarettes.

There was no evidence that an accelerator had been used.

Once ignited, he explained, the fire would have taken five to eight minutes to reach “the flash point or full fire”, but it would have already begun to migrate down the hall and towards the second bedroom of the room. 'apartment.

Joseph said it was possible Field left the bedroom in the first minutes of the fire, but “after three minutes it was no longer possible to survive.”

It would also have been possible to put out the fire using a fire extinguisher or fire hose from the start, he added.

Joseph's reconstruction, however, showed that Field had little chance of leaving the room.

Field was found on her back, facing the ceiling, while pinned between the exterior wall and the overturned bed and mattress – under which she was partially trapped – and encircled by a dresser.

Joseph said people found face up after the fires were either dead before the fire started or unconscious.

Those found face down may have tried to escape.

He didn't think Field had tried to escape.

Joseph said the queen-size bed and mattress could only have been flipped from the side of the bedroom door and with considerable force.

This was confirmed by where the wooden bed slats were found spread across the bedroom floor, he said.

The underside of the slats was not burned – nor was the carpet beneath – which Joseph believed was evidence that the bed had been turned over before the fire was lit.

Defense attorney Julian Hannam had a few questions for the forensic fire investigator.

But he wanted to know whether Joseph could rule out – using smoke damage models – whether or not the front door had been closed while the fire burned for a period of time.

The fire investigator said he could not do so for a “limited period of time.”

rnz.co.nz