A nurse who set a Sydney nursing home on fire, killing 11 residents and wounding several others, was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison, with the judge slamming the man’s actions as heinous and reprehensible.
Roger Dean, 37, showed no reaction as New South Wales Supreme Court Justice Megan Latham handed him the maximum sentence for setting two fires that engulfed the nursing home in the Sydney suburb of Quakers Hill on November 18, 2011. Dean pleaded guilty in May to 11 counts of murder and eight counts of grievous bodily harm.
Police said Dean, who started one blaze in a bedroom where two residents were sleeping, lit the fires after discovering he was under police investigation for stealing more than 200 prescription pills from the home. The fire was an apparent attempt to destroy evidence in the case.
Dean told officials that lighting the fire was stupid, and blamed his actions on the devil.
“You won’t believe it, but it was like Satan saying to me that it’s the right thing to do,” he said in a videotaped interview with police. “I love the residents very much and I have a really good rapport with them. So I feel extremely bad and I just feel evil - that I’m just corrupted with evil thoughts that had made me do that.”
During the sentencing hearing, psychiatrist Michael Diamond, who examined Dean’s recorded police interview, said there was no indication Dean was confused, delusional or withdrawing from medication after the fire.
On Thursday, the judge described Dean’s actions as “heinous,” “atrocious” and “greatly reprehensible.”
