A woman who poured five litres of petrol onto an old male friend and set him on fire because he joked that she should stay in the kitchen and make scones instead of drinking with the boys after a night out has been jailed for a minimum of four-and-a-half years.
Corbie Walpole, 24, in December pleaded guilty to one charge of burn, maim, disfigure or disable a person by use of a corrosive fluid over the attack on Jake Loader, who was 23 at the time, at her home in Howlong, New South Wales, on January 7, 2024, an offence that carries a maximum sentence of 25 years.
She spent 16 months on bail and faced Albury Local Court for a pre-sentencing hearing earlier this month where her lawyer said 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 on Thursday 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, and imposed a sentence of seven years and six months, with a non-parole period of four years and six months.
In sentencing 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 horrific 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%, spend eight days in a coma, 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 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.
Walpole will be eligible for parole in November, 2029.
Header image: Left, Corbie Walpole. Right, Jake Loader and his girlfriend (Instagram).
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