A 33-year-old man suspected of having started nearly a dozen fires in Pau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) has been indicted and remanded in custody.
The 30-year-old is suspected of having set fire to a building of 16 apartments on the night of May 3 to 4.
The fire led to the evacuation of 20 people and injured a woman, who jumped from the second floor to escape the flames.
The suspect admits the facts
A week later, he would have set fire to the chaplaincy of the presbytery of the Saint-Pierre church, in the university district and several vehicles in the Zaragoza district.
The fire in the chaplaincy "could have cost the lives of the two priests who were sleeping at that time on the 1st floor" according to the Bishop of Bayonne, Lescar and Oloron Marc Aillet.
Arrested on Tuesday, the suspect was placed in pre-trial detention and indicted for "destruction by fire" and "destruction by fire which resulted in an ITT of more than 8 days", said Thursday the vice-prosecutor of the Republic of Pau, Sebastien Baraldi.
The defendant, already convicted of “minor facts”, admitted the facts before the investigating judge but his motives remain “unclear” at this stage of the investigation.
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Fire
Indictment
Investigation
Miscellaneous facts