A woman who set fire to the Bega Court flat complex before screaming "I've killed them, they're dead" has been found not guilty by way of mental impairment.
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The fire ripped through block seven of the eight-block public housing complex on Cooyong Street, near the Canberra Centre in June 2013.
All six of the block's apartments were gutted and made uninhabitable, leaving a repair bill initially estimated at $400,000.
Two tenants, including the woman who started the fire, were left in hospital.
At the time police said accelerant had been used, but it took almost a year to bring the resident responsible to court.
On Tuesday, the woman faced a brief trial in the ACT Supreme Court, charged with an arson offence that carries a 25-year maximum.
The woman – who had a long history of mental health issues – was found not guilty by way of mental impairment.
Court documents show the woman had spoken of her plans to another resident a day earlier, on June 24, 2013.
"I'm going to burn Bega Court down," she said.
The other resident replied:
"What do you mean?"
She reportedly said: "I'm going to burn the block down."
On the morning of the fire, the woman was seen "highly agitated" in a complex courtyard. She was found swinging a golf club around, but police calmed her down and she went back to her unit.
Later that day, patrolling officers saw her walking through Braddon with a red jerry can.
She filled it up at a petrol station, and went back to the complex, where she was seen by neighbours at the bottom of the block's stairwell.
"F--- you all, I'll burn yous all," court documents record her as saying.
She then went into her unit and set it on fire.
The windows of the unit exploded, spraying glass and other debris far out onto the intersection of Cooyong and Akuna Street.
Smoke and flames spread to the block's staircase, preventing those in adjoining units from leaving.
One resident was forced to climb over his third floor balcony to escape.
Another became trapped while the fire burnt in the unit below him.
Firefighters rescued him and he was rushed to hospital.
The woman responsible was seen to throw herself over the stairwell railing, running from the complex and yelling: "I've killed people, I've killed people. They're dead!"
After the scene was secured, she was seen wandering in circles on the road. A lighter was seen in her hand, and she was visibly upset with eyes glazed over.
She told people she was looking for her dog.
Police went to grab her, and noticed both her hands were purple and her skin was peeling away from her right wrist and palm.
She was taken to hospital under police guard.
Justice John Burns found her not guilty by way of mental impairment on Tuesday. Prosecutors had not opposed such a finding.
The woman was ordered to submit to the jurisdiction of the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal for the purpose of making a mental health order.
