A woman who doused an old male friend in petrol and set him on fire because he joked that she should stay in the kitchen and make scones instead of drinking with the boys wants her jail sentence reduced on appeal.
Corbie Walpole, 24, had 28 days to appeal after last month being given a maximum sentence of seven years and six months with a non-parole period of four years and six months for the attack on Jake Loader at her home in Howlong, NSW, on January 7, 2024, making her eligible for release in November 2029.
Walpole filed a notion of intention to contest the sentence at the Court of Criminal Appeal earlier this month, but a hearing date is yet to be set.
In December Walpole pleaded guilty to one charge of burn, maim, disfigure or disable a person by use of a corrosive fluid, an offence that carries a maximum sentence of 25 years.
She spent 16 months on bail and her lawyer told a pre-sentencing hearing in May that she should be spared a custodial sentence because she felt provoked, suffered from mental health issues, and had developed PSTD as a result of her own crime.
But in sentencing on May 22 Judge Jennifer English rejected suggestions Walpole was provoked by Mr Loader, and called the assault “an act of immediate, destructive and horrifically painful violence”, Daily Mail Australia reported.
Judge English noted Walpole had left her home after the attack instead of staying to assist Mr Loader, and the court heard that while others dragged the burning man into a small pool to extinguish the flames, Walpole just watched and said: “What the f- have I done, what the f- have I done, he just wouldn’t stop.”
The judge said that while it was “never easy to send a young person, particularly a young woman, to jail”, only a custodial sentence would be appropriate.
Judge English also took into account Walpole’s previous conviction of assault occasioning actual bodily harm over a 2021 attack on a bouncer, and rejected her claims that she had only intended to scare her victim.
“She threatened to set fire to the victim and she did exactly that,” she said.
Judge English said she accepted that Walpole was extremely remorseful, had given up drugs and alcohol, was receiving counselling and now experiences PTSD symptoms.
The court heard that Walpole constantly replays the attack in her mind, has developed a traumatic reaction to the smell of petrol, experiences nightmares and intrusive thoughts, and is haunted by the “bewildered” look on her victim’s face when he got out of the pool covered with severe burns.
Mr Loader’s family clapped, cheered and cried when the sentence was read out, and Walpole told her own sobbing family members “it’s going to be okay” as she was taken into custody, The Border Mail reported.
During the pre-sentencing hearing the court heard that Mr Loader, who musters cattle in outback Queensland, suffered third degree burns to 55% of his body, less severe burns to another 6%, spent eight days in a coma and another 74 days in a burns unit, and needed 10 surgeries.
He can no longer go in the sun and has trouble regulating his body temperature as his sweat glands were burned off.
Walpole, who was drunk and had taken cocaine earlier in the evening, told the court that Mr Loader had been “pushing my buttons” before the attack, but under questioning admitted they frequently made fun of each other and engaged in banter.
“I was feeling overwhelmed by [Mr Loader’s] presence and I didn’t know what to do,” she said.
“He was antagonising me. He told me to go to the kitchen where I belong because I’m a girl, I gave it back to him and called him a misogynist,” she said.
She then went to her garage, returned with a jerry can containing five litres of fuel and poured it over Mr Loader while waving her cigarette lighter around and saying “I’ll do it, I’ll do it”.
Mr Loader said “go on, do it” and she set him ablaze.
When asked why she had committed the crime, Walpole said she “didn’t know” and “I didn’t want to injure Jake”.
“‘I find it very hard to believe the injuries that were caused was from my doing,” she said.
Header image: Left, Corbie Walpole. Right, Jake Loader (GoFundMe).
The post Woman who set male friend on fire for ‘misogynistic’ joke appeals jail sentence first appeared on The Noticer.
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