A woman jailed for four and a half years for setting her childhood friend on fire after he made what she deemed misogynistic comments is now appealing against the length of her sentence.
Corbie Walpole had originally hoped to receive some form of non-custodial punishment for her senseless crime but was put away for a maximum of seven years and six months.
The 24-year-old electrician pleaded guilty in the NSW District Court to one count of burn, maim, disfigure or disable a person by use of a corrosive fluid and learnt her fate on May 22.
Judge Jennifer English rejected any suggestion Walpole had been provoked when she attacked 22-year-old Jake Loader in an act of ‘destructive and horrifically painful violence’.
‘It is never easy to send a young person, particularly a young woman, to jail,’ Judge English said, sitting in Albury on the NSW-Victoria border.
‘But where appropriate, it is something that must be done.’
It can now be revealed Walpole filed a notice of intention to appeal with the Court of Criminal Appeal on June 13, challenging the severity of her sentence.
Daily Mail Australia captured some of Walpole’s final moments of freedom – photographing the smiling tradie catching up with loved ones over coffee as she frolicked in a park the day before she was locked up.
Corbie Walpole, who was jailed for four and half years for setting her childhood friend on fire after he made what she deemed misogynistic comments, is appealing against the length of her sentence. Walpole is pictured the day before she was locked up
Walpole had faced a maximum sentence of 25 years for setting Mr Loader ablaze as he sat on a chair in her backyard at Howlong, about 30km west of Albury, early last year.
The pair met when Mr Loader went to boarding school at St Paul’s College at Walla Walla, about 40km north of Albury, and had been friends for at least nine years.
Mr Loader, who worked mustering cattle in Queensland, was in Howlong for a short break and joined old friends, including Walpole, for a night out which included celebrating a 21st birthday.
Walpole claimed Mr Loader had been baiting her before she poured 5 litres of petrol over his head and used a cigarette lighter to turn him into a human torch.
‘He was antagonising me,’ she told the court.
‘He told me to go to the kitchen where I belong because I’m a girl. I gave it back to him and called him a misogynist.’
Judge English rejected any suggestion Walpole – who claimed she had felt ‘challenged and disrespected in her own home’ – had been goaded into doing what she did.
‘I find that the assault upon the victim was unprovoked,’ the judge said.
Judge Jennifer English rejected any suggestion Walpole had been provoked when she attacked 22-year-old Jake Loader in an act of ‘destructive and horrifically painful violence’. Mr Loader is pictured with his partner Annabelle McGee
Walpole wiped tears from her eyes as Judge English recounted the night that forever changed Mr Loader’s life.
Mr Loader was 22 and Walpole was 23 when they began drinking with mates about 8pm on January 6, 2024, at Howlong Golf Resort.
Two hours later they went to a 21st birthday party at Howlong, then kicked on to a house party at North Albury, and returned to the birthday gathering about 2am.
The group’s final stop was Walpole’s home, where they settled into the backyard about 4am.
Some of the revellers, including Walpole, had taken cocaine earlier in the evening and most had retired to the Russell Street house, where Walpole’s partner was sleeping, within an hour.
Judge English said Walpole had begun drinking at 5pm, downing bottles of cider, schooners of Canadian Club and Bacardi and cola, and cans of Hard Solo.
An expert estimated Walpole had consumed 23 to 35 standard drinks over 12 hours and would have had a blood alcohol level between 0.22 and 0.38. In all that time she had eaten only two slices of pizza.
Walpole claimed Mr Loader had been antagonising her throughout the evening, trying to wrestle her and wake her sleeping boyfriend.
Mr Loader suffered third degree burns to 55 per cent of his body and less severe injuries to an additional six per cent when Corbie Walpole set him alight in her backyard (above)
‘He was really pushing my buttons,’ she said.
‘I was feeling overwhelmed by [Mr Loader’s] presence, and I didn’t know what to do.’
Walpole snapped when Mr Loader said she should be in the kitchen baking scones, rather than out drinking with boys. Walpole had a can of Hard Solo in her hand when she erupted.
Walpole got up from an outdoor table and went to her garage where she collected a 5 litre jerry can of fuel, went back to the table, poured the petrol over the seated Mr Loader and waved a cigarette lighter around.
‘I’ll do it,’ Walpole said. ‘I’ll do it.’
Mr Loader replied: ‘Go on, do it.’
Walpole carried out the threat and Mr Loader was immediately engulfed in flames.
Mr Loader, who ran around the yard screaming, tried to pull off his shirt but the melted fabric stuck to his skin. Two male friends extinguished the fire by plunging Mr Loader into a small pool.
Walpole and Mr Loader met when he went to boarding school at St Paul’s College at Walla Walla, about 40km north of Albury. Mr Loader is pictured
Walpole held her head in her hands and said: ‘What the f*** have I done? He was telling me to do it.’
Mr Loader was taken by ambulance to Albury Hospital then flown to The Alfred in Melbourne where he spent eight days in a coma, 74 days in the burns unit, and underwent 10 operations.
He had suffered third degree burns to 55 per cent of his body and less severe injuries to an additional six per cent. Those injuries were spread across his back, chest, arms, legs and face.
Judge English described Walpole’s deeds as ‘deliberate acts committed in the presence of others’.
‘For those present it must have been truly horrific to be witness to,’ she said.
‘It was an act of immediate, destructive and horrifically painful violence.’
Mr Loader can no longer expose his skin to the sun and his body struggles to regulate its temperature because his sweat glands were burnt off.
‘It will affect the rest of my life,’ Mr Loader said in a statement read by Crown prosecutor Max Pincott.
Judge English described Walpole’s deeds as ‘deliberate acts committed in the presence of others’. Walpole is pictured
At a pre-sentence hearing, Walpole wept on in the witness box as she unsuccessfully attempted to explain what she had done.
‘I wasn’t thinking,’ she repeatedly said when asked about her actions.
‘I didn’t want to injure Jake.’
Judge English did not accept Walpole’s contention she was unaware putting a cigarette lighter to a man soaked in petrol would set him ablaze.
‘I find that position difficult to believe,’ she said.
Judge English also rejected Walpole’s claim she had set out to scare Mr Loader, rather than harm him.
‘She threatened to set fire to the victim and she did exactly that,’ she said.
Further, Walpole should have known the consequences of lighting the petrol would likely be catastrophic – ‘which is exactly what occurred’.
Judge English found Walpole had engaged in ‘nothing short of drug and alcohol-fuelled violence’ rather than becoming aggressive due to her depression.
Despite Walpole having excellent prospects of rehabilitation and being highly unlikely to reoffend, Judge English said no sentence other than full-time custody would be appropriate for her offending.
