A drug-fuelled arsonist who torched his ex-partner's Kiama house later viciously bashed two female police officers, ripping clumps of hair from one cop's scalp.
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Michael McKenzie, 35, admitted to his violent rampage stemming from the early hours of January 28, in which he arrived at the Orana Avenue home in breach of an earlier-imposed court order banning him from going near his ex.
The woman let McKenzie inside out of fear of repercussions due to being intimidated in the past.
He later woke the woman up and demanded she bring him cigarettes. She initially refused, however prepared to leave the home to get them after McKenzie's anger escalated.
An argument then erupted, prompting the woman to flee to the backyard where she called the police.
McKenzie remained in the home and flew into a fit of rage, smashing a number of the woman's belonging and causing a large hole in the laundry wall.
He also ripped a screen door off its hinges that led to the backyard.
Two police officers arrived to find flames from the kitchen window, with a "large and out of control" blaze that soon after engulfed the Department of Housing home.
Police made sure the woman was moved away from the vicinity.
McKenzie came outside and was told to sit on the ground and place his hands behind his back, but he refused.
"Do you want me to smash your f---ing head in or what?" he said to one of the officers, continuing to resist his arrest.
McKenzie became heightened and overpowered one of the officers, pulling her head back by her hair and ripping a clump out from her scalp.
He then punched the other officer in the face several times in the face before upper cutting her jaw. In a "blood-curdling scream", she asked for more assistance via the police radio, as McKenzie continued to strike them.
A Good Samaritan who saw what was happening wrestled McKenzie to the ground, while the officers cleared the adjoining properties.
Both cops suffered abrasions, extensive bruising, swelling, jaw and joint pain, and sprained ligaments.
Firefighters battled to extinguish the blaze, but the house was destroyed.
McKenzie pleaded guilty to resisting police, damaging property, and two counts each of contravening an apprehended violence order, assaulting a police officer and occasioning actual bodily harm, and damaging property by fire and causing more than $15,000 worth of damage.
He is scheduled to be sentenced at Wollongong Local Courthttps://www.illawarramercury.com.au/news/court-crime/ on Friday.
Grace Crivellaro
Court reporter for the Illawarra Mercury.
Court reporter for the Illawarra Mercury.
