A 22-year-old man was sentenced on August 16 at the Charleville-Mézières court in the Ardennes to an eight-month suspended prison sentence for having started two fires on August 12 in Châtelet-sur-Retourne, 35 km from Reims, in the Ardennes, reports
France Bleu Ardennes
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It was five teenagers, on a bike ride, who gave the alert.
They passed the young man who was walking at a rapid pace and staggering.
Further on, they see smoke, try to put out the fire with earth, without effect.
They then contact the emergency services.
Once there, the firefighters and the gendarmes noted two starts of fire.
The fire, which spread over 110 m in length, was already beginning to spread to the edge of the wood.
Three fire vehicles and eight volunteer firefighters to put out the flames.
The 22-year-old suspect was found a little further away, unconscious and drunk.
Three lighters, including a blowtorch type, and lighter fluid were found on him.
“I am not a criminal, nor an arsonist”
During his hearing by the gendarmes, the young man seemed to have trouble recognizing the facts, explaining that the fire had surely started because of his cigarette butt, before confessing everything.
During his immediate appearance in court, he justifies his actions by his state of intoxication which did not allow him to realize the seriousness of the facts.
“I am not a criminal, nor an arsonist,” says the 22-year-old man.
Justifications to which the prosecutor hammered “alcohol is not a mitigating circumstance!
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She then required eighteen months in prison, including six firm, with continued detention.
Reimbursement of rescue costs
The young man was finally sentenced to eight months in prison with a probationary sentence of two years.
He must also reimburse the emergency costs incurred by the SDIS to extinguish the fire, ie more than 750 euros.
Four arson fires near the same road in the Somme
Justice
Fires: Twenty suspected arsonists arrested by the police since the beginning of the summer
Miscellaneous facts
Great East
Fire
Criminal fire
Reims