Christine Anne Winmar: Katanning woman jailed for setting fire to neighbour’s yard, damaging cars and stealing

A Katanning woman who set fire to her neighbour’s garden and damaged eight cars in one night has been jailed for 16 months. Christine Anne Winmar appeared in Katanning Magistrates Court on Tuesday via videolink from Melaleuca Women’s Prison and pleaded guilty to 11 counts of criminal damage and two counts of stealing. On January 29, the 31-year-old lit her neighbour’s garden and drainpipe on fire and smashed their front window, telling police when she was arrested two days later that she “was looking for someone to fight”. Just more than two weeks later, Winmar caused havoc in the Woolworths Katanning carpark in the early hours of February 15 by damaging eight vehicles, with CCTV capturing her using a brick and trolley to smash windows, windscreens and headlights and dent car doors. She also punctured a car tyre in the same car park on December 13, 2024, telling police the next day “I don’t care”, prosecutor Sgt Natalie Parkyn said. Defence lawyer Georgia Herford said her client suffered from schizophrenia and believed she was retaliating when she set her neighbour’s garden on fire, but now acknowledged she was most likely suffering from delusions and that it was lucky another neighbour intervened. Magistrate Erin O’Donnell said jail was appropriate given the “sheer number of vehicles damaged”, “spate of offending” and breach of parole. Winmar was fined $300 with $300.50 in costs. She was also made to pay $220 in compensation for the tyre she punctured on December 13, 2024, and food and drink items she stole from Woolworths Katanning and EG Ampol Katanning on February 14. She was sentenced to one year and four months jail backdated to February 15 and will be eligible for parole.