A 55-year-old mother accused of starting a fire in Gard at the end of July when the fire risk was at its highest has been sentenced to two years in prison, one of which will be suspended on Friday 19 August. In Nimes.
After his arrest at the beginning of August, the defendant, who was placed under judicial supervision, admitted at the hearing that he set the fire.with a lighter“On the night of July 29-30 in Gajan, in front of his neighbors’ house. They had complained about the noise of a party organized at his house.
The fire had spread rapidly along the houses, even in the gardens of two houses, whose owners, parents of young children, had taken civil action together with Garde firemen. The fire burned 2000 square meters of brush. “To be honest, I drank a little, I almost never drink. I think that’s it– answered the mother of the family to President Jerome Reynes.
A single mother of two daughters, ages 26 and 14, and grandmother of a 10-year-old grandson, the defendant, whose record is blank, has taken in dependent or disabled elderly people into her home for 25 years. But due to the noise of parties organized in the defendant’s house, tension arose with his neighbors for several months.
“I want to fix my stupidity”
“Alcohol does not excuse your behavior“said prosecutor Philip Ughetto, who requested a two-year prison term on the warrant. “This drama has been played for a short time– insisted the judge.That evening, this respectable person could not stand criticism and behaved like a pyromaniac. He has put several families with young children at great risk“. “I want to fix my stupidity“, “I am ashamed of what I did– repeated the defendant, being sentenced to pay more than 17,000 euros to the civil parties.
“This is not stupidity– resumed the judge. “This is a misdemeanor and the punishment is 10 years“, he snapped before remembering the context.We have fires all over France and especially in Gard. Firefighters are often monopolized, but do you decide to start a fire?” “It wasn’t intentional“He defended the defendant. In a press release, Gard firefighters responded to this judgment, stressing that “these types of operations (…) expose firefighters to significant risks and mobilize resources that may be committed; “vital» somewhere else“.
Source: Le Figaro
