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Fulda (dpa / lhe) - A man who is said to be responsible for several fires on a campsite was sentenced to four years in prison by the Fulda regional court on Thursday.
The court saw it as proven that the 28-year-old from Eckernförde in Schleswig-Holstein was guilty of the attempted particularly serious arson, the completed arson and property damage.
There had been two fires at the campsite in Hosenfeld in the Fulda district: on May 19, 2016 and June 9 of the same year.
The cause: arson.
It was only by chance that a neighbor noticed the first fire in time and woke a 73-year-old man who was sleeping in his burning trailer.
The second fire destroyed two other caravans with wooden canopies, a minibus, a wheel loader and a ride-on lawnmower and caused around 50,000 euros in damage.
The case was originally charged as attempted murder.
But the judge stated that the defendant had no intention of killing.
Rather, the 28-year-old, who was considered a loner on the square, felt offended by the permanent campers, and the arson should be a lesson.
The relationship between the 28-year-old and the campsite supervisor was tense.
In the dispute, the defendant is said to have thrown a catalog at his head, the senior had fought with a brick.
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In court, the defendant had denied having started the fires.
But the chamber regards a conversation between him and campers a few days after the fires as a quasi-confession.
The campers asked him why he did it.
The defendant is said to have replied: «Don't know».
The judge said that although it was not a confession, an innocent person would not act that way.
As evidence, the judge cited several barbecue lighters that the police had found in his trailer, even though the defendant did not have a barbecue.
They are said to have been the same kind of lighters as those used to start the fires.
The verdict is not yet legally binding.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210401-99-57611 / 2