A cell phone text message is believed to have sparked a fireball which razed a house and almost blew up a man who was cooking cannabis oil in his bedroom with the door closed, a court has been told.
Police said Darren Jeffries, 23, was caught in the fireball and ran "smoking from his head" to alert his partner and two children who were in the house.
Detective Constable Daniel MacIntosh said police speculated a text message sparked the fire.
Heavy vapour had formed as the cannabis and alcohol were heated on a small electric element in the Johnsonville house in January. As Jeffries opened his cellphone, the text lit up more than its screen - lawyer Noel Sainsbury said Jeffries "nearly blew himself up".
In Wellington District Court yesterday, Mr Sainsbury said the explosion had turned Jeffries' life around. He had been making the cannabis oil to feed his addiction.
"The good that has come out of that is that the shock - one can only imagine the shock - seems to have brought him to his senses."
He says he has sworn off cannabis. He pleaded guilty to trying to make cannabis oil and recklessly damaging the Philip St house with the fire that also burned his face and hands.
Jeffries, a furniture mover, was sentenced to eight months' home detention, to be followed by alcohol and drug treatment and anger counselling. Insurance covered the $88,000 damage.
