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A 30-year-old man who inadvertently threw away cigarette butts with embers and set fire to a mart building was sentenced to probation.
The Gwangju District Court's 4th Criminal Division (Judge Park Sang-hyeon) announced on the 18th that it had sentenced 35-year-old A, who was handed over to trial on charges of aggravation, to four months in prison and one year of probation.
On December 5, 2020, at around 6:40 pm, Mr. A smoked a cigarette in front of a garbage storage at a food material mart in Nam-gu, Gwangju and threw away the cigarette butt.
However, the embers left on these cigarette butts were transferred to the waste paper, and by 8:05 in the evening, it spread to the stairs and restrooms of the mart building, and to the entire office on the 5th and 6th floors.
It is known that the fire caused property damage worth 500 million won, including burning the exterior walls of the six-story building.
Fortunately, there were no casualties, but the fire spread quickly, causing dozens of people, including citizens and employees, who were shopping at the mart to tangle and evacuate in an emergency.
Some citizens inhaled the smoke and were taken to hospitals.
The court ruled, "The accused is not guilty of light charges given that he caused considerable property damage by flicking out cigarette embers while smoking in the vicinity of the waste paper storage, and there was also a risk of serious personal injury." I did.
However, he said, "We decided the sentence based on the fact that the accused is reflecting on his confession and that some victims have agreed and do not want punishment."
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