When sheriff’s deputies arrived to evict a mother of two children in Sydney, she told them, “The owners are going to pay for this now.”
According to testimony presented in court, she threatened to “f*** up the property” before setting fire to the rental home she was living in.
On Tuesday, Elizabeth Mary Butt, 54 years old, entered a guilty plea to the charge of setting fire to a residence in Kyle Bay, which is located in the southern suburbs of Sydney.
Butt pleaded guilty to two charges of assaulting a law enforcement officer and causing damage to property valued at more than $15,000.
According to the documents filed in the case, Butt’s ex-husband started renting the single-story property with three bedrooms in 2007.
In February of 2022, according to the agency in charge of the home, Mr Butt had finalised the divorce from his wife and moved out of the residence.
When her husband refused to pay the rent on the property, the owners consented to expel her from the apartment.
Two male deputies from the sheriff’s office showed up at her home on June 2 with the intention of forcing her to leave and changing the locks.
Butt answered the door when the sheriffs arrived, but as soon as they explained that they were there to evict her, she slammed the door shut and ran away.
However, her two sons welcomed the strangers into the home, gathered their possessions, and then left.
According to the court documents, their mother was apprehended by the sheriffs two hours later for taking a fuel can containing five litres from the garage where she was staying.
They begged her to put it down, but she instead attacked them with the tin after she picked it up again.
Because there was no cap on it, gasoline began to spill out in their vicinity.
After feeling like their lives were in danger, the guys ran away from the house and dialled the number for the emergency services.
Butt emerged from the garage while releasing a massive cloud of dark smoke from his body.
As she made her way down the driveway, she remarked that the tenants’ landlords will soon be aware of the value of the property.
Butt remarked something to the effect that the owners were going to pay for this now while she was holding a lighter in her hand before she said the words.
I’ll f*** the property up’.’
Butt was not allowed to leave custody after her appearance in the Parramatta Local Court in June.