EXCLUSIVE Just five words made Corbie douse her mate in petrol and set him ablaze. Now she's beamed with joy on her last day of freedom before facing years in jail for the horror attack in Albury
A woman who doused her childhood friend in petrol and set him on fire after he made what she deemed as misogynistic comments will learn if she is going to jail on Thursday.
Corbie Jean Walpole spent what could be her last day of freedom on Wednesday by catching up with loved ones and frolicking in a park with two dogs.
The 25-year-old bought coffee and food for herself, a young man and an older man before the trio gathered at Alexandra Park in East Albury on the NSW-Victoria border.
Prosecutors want Walpole sent to prison for setting Jake Loader ablaze as he sat on a chair in her backyard at Howlong, about 30km west of Albury, early last year.
Mr Loader, who lives in outback Queensland, was in Howlong to join old friends including Walpole for a night on the drink, which included celebrating a 21st birthday.
Walpole claimed Mr Loader had been baiting her before she poured five litres of petrol over his head and used a cigarette lighter to turn him into a human torch.
'He was antagonising me,' she previously told the NSW District Court, sitting in Albury.
'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.'
The pair met when Mr Loader attended boarding school at St Paul's College at Walla Walla, about 40km north of Albury. They had been friends for at least nine years.
Walpole appeared distressed earlier this month when prosecutors called for her to be jailed over the attack, which left Mr Loader with burns to more than 60 per cent of his body.
She faces up to 25 years behind bars but her lawyers have asked for an intensive corrections order which would not require her to spend any time in custody.
On Wednesday, Walpole ate a roll and sipped from a takeaway coffee as she sat on a bench in the sun with her two companions before getting up to play with one of the dogs.
Walpole smiled and chatted as the group did three laps of a walking track during the 45-minute outing, but appeared more sombre at one point while on the phone.
Mr Loader and Walpole were both 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 and then kicked on to another knees-up at North Albury, before settling into the backyard of Walpole's home about 4am.
Some of the revellers, including Walpole, had taken cocaine earlier in the night and most had retired to the Russell Street house, where Walpole's partner was sleeping, within an hour.
Walpole bought coffee and food for herself, a young man and an older man before the trio gathered at Alexandra Park in East Albury on the NSW-Victoria border
Walpole claimed that Mr Loader had been antagonising her throughout the night, trying to wrestle her and wake her sleeping boyfriend.
'He was really pushing my buttons,' she told the District Court.
'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.
She got up from an outdoor table and went to her garage where she collected a five 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 lives in the Queensland Outback, was in Howlong to join old friends including Walpole for a night on the drink last January. Walpole (left) is pictured on Wednesday buying coffee
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 held her head in her hands and said: 'What the f*** have I done? He was telling me to do it.'
She left the scene of her crime just as neighbours first heard Mr Loader's screams and was later arrested while driving on the Riverina Highway from Howlong to Albury.
Mr Loader was in such a shocked state that he initially refused to go to hospital, not understanding the extent of his injuries.
He remained in the pool for half an hour before being driven to the home of an emergency ward nurse who was the mother of one of the partygoers. She placed Mr Loader under a cold shower until the arrival of paramedics.
Mr Loader was rushed to Albury Hospital before he was airlifted 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 second 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.
On the same day she had set Mr Loader on fire, Walpole sent a text to his girlfriend Annabelle McGee about 3pm.
Walpole smiled and chatted as the group did three laps of a walking track during the 45-minute outing, but appeared more sombre at one point while on the phone (pictured)
The text began, 'Hey', and continued: 'I wanted to let Jake know I'm really sorry for everything that's happened.'
'I made a really stupid decision and I own that. It was a mistake and I wish I could go back in time. I hope he is OK. I am really sorry.'
Mr Loader was not OK and is still not OK, as he outlined in a victim impact statement.
He 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 earlier this month.
'The horrific scarring to the majority of my body will be a lifelong reminder of this horrific event.'
Walpole pleaded guilty in December to one count of burn, maim, disfigure or disable a person by use of a corrosive fluid and has been on bail for the past 16 months.
At a pre-sentence hearing, Walpole broke down 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.
Mr Pincott: 'Well, why did you set him alight?'
Walpole: 'I don't know why I did.'
The court heard Walpole, who pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily after a scuffle with a pub bouncer in 2021, had been abusing drugs and alcohol from late 2022.
She had been in a failing relationship, which left her feeling trapped and depressed early last year but admitted that was no excuse for setting fire to Mr Loader.
'Jake didn't deserve what happened,' she said.
'To this day I feel horrible, remorseful, guilty for what I have done to Jake, not only Jake but his family, his loved ones, his mutual friends… anyone who has been impacted in this entire case.
'I find it very hard to believe the injuries that were caused was from my doing. I would do anything to go back in time.
'No one deserves what happened to Jake and I can't imagine the pain - both physically and emotionally - that I've caused him and his family.'
Mr Pincott said Walpole had no defence of provocation as her actions were so out of proportion to anything Mr Loader had said or done.
'You could have walked away from this, couldn't you?' he said. 'But you didn't.'
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