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<\/p>\nA Kiwi executive assistant in a volatile relationship with an older finance executive shared in three bottles of wine and took Prozac before launching his wallet off their high-rise balcony, setting his clothes on fire and breaking into her ex-husband’s house, an Australian court has heard.<\/p>\n
Jessica Mary O’Brien, 32, pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court on Wednesday to one count of endangering a property by fire after an earlier charge of arson was dropped.<\/p>\n
The court heard the offence occurred about 8.50pm on Friday, July 13, 2018 at a Kangaroo Point unit complex.<\/p>\n
The victim in the matter was O’Brien’s then boyfriend, who was 17 years her senior and with whom the relationship was a “volatile one”.<\/p>\n
On the evening in question, the pair had consumed three bottles of wine together, with O’Brien also taking Prozac tablets, before a fight ensued after O’Brien contacted a male friend via telephone.<\/p>\n
O’Brien launched her boyfriend’s wallet off the balcony, before he responded in kind by throwing her phone off the edge, shattering it.<\/p>\n
He stormed off about 8.30pm, at which point she set fire to a bundle of his clothing at the bottom of a closet before exiting the complex.<\/p>\n
Once outside, O’Brien accosted two strangers on the street, telling them to contact the fire brigade, the court heard.<\/p>\n
The two strangers described O’Brien as having “dark eyes”, looking like she had been awake for days, slurring her words, appearing “off her face” and staring off into the distance.<\/p>\n
They further said she was shoeless, wearing only a dress despite the freezing temperature and not appearing to feel the cold.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
O’Brien, the court heard, offered one of the bystanders AUD$10,000 to spirit her away from the scene, before calling a taxi herself to her ex-husband’s address at Park Ave, Ashgrove.<\/p>\n
Finding him not home, she broke into his house before falling asleep in his bed, where police discovered her about midnight.<\/p>\n
She was arrested and taken to the station, where she vomited before being granted bail.<\/p>\n
QFES officers were easily able to extinguish the Kangaroo Point fire, the court heard, as the closed closet doors retarded the flames.<\/p>\n
Judge Paul Smith told the court O’Brien, a New Zealand citizen, had a history of mental health issues and had been diagnosed with adult ADHD among other afflictions.<\/p>\n
However, he noted she was now in a stable relationship, engaged to be married, and was engaged in counselling and had gotten on top of her alcohol abuse.<\/p>\n
He sentenced her to a 12-month intensive correction order, so as not to cause her to have potential issues with immigration.<\/p>\n
– This story originally appeared in the Courier-Mail<\/i><\/p>\nLooking for support? It's available<\/h2>\n
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