A WOMAN in Australia has admitted to setting her friend on fire and explained in court that she was “overwhelmed by his presence” after he was antagonistic and made a derogatory remark towards women.
Corbie Jean Walpole, 24, and Jake Loader, 23, attended a house party together when the incident occurred, resulting in burns covering more than half of Loader’s body, as reported by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Loader sustained burns to 55 percent of his body in the attack in January last year, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.
Walpole claimed in court that Loader was being antagonistic towards her at the party in New South Wales, trying to wrestle her the entire night.
Loader reportedly told her she should “stay in the kitchen making scones” where she belonged if she couldn’t keep up with the boys’ drinking, ABC reported.
Walpole, who admitted in court to being drunk and high on cocaine, left the table where they were drinking and retrieved a five-litre container of petrol from her garage.
She then poured it on Loader and reportedly waved her lighter around in the air.
Loader said: “Go on, do it.”
Walpole then touched him with the lighter, setting him on fire, according to the testimony.
After the arson attack, he was placed in a medically induced coma for eight days, his victim impact statement revealed.
It said he underwent 10 operations and had to spend 74 days in a burn unit at Melbourne hospital.
Some of his sweat glands were even burned off, leaving his body unable to regulate temperature.
As a result of the extensive epidermal damage he endured, he can no longer spend time in the sun, it added.
“This attack did not only hurt me, it hurt everyone who cared about me,” his statement read.
He did not attend court.
It was revealed in court that most of the group was heavily intoxicated and that Walpole had consumed cocaine.
She said: “I was feeling overwhelmed by [Mr Loader’s] presence and I didn’t know what to do.”
She also revealed that she had been abusing drugs and alcohol since a breakup in 2022.
Walpole said: “To this day I feel horrible, remorseful, guilty for what I have done to Jake, not only Jake but his family, his loved ones, his mutual friends… Anyone who has been impacted in this entire case.
She added: “I would do anything to go back in time.
“No one deserves what happened to Jake and I can’t imagine the pain – both physically and emotionally – that I’ve caused him and his family.”
Walpole is due back in court this month for sentencing.
It comes as a woman was set on fire while asleep on a New York subway in December last year.
Debrina Kawam was homeless and sleeping on a subway car when she was attacked, police said.
The attacker, identified as Sebastian Zapeta, sat on a bench and watched his victim burn to death after the attack at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station in Brooklyn.
He pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and other charges in January.
If convicted of the charges, Zapeta faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
