Alex Trelinski
A VALENCIA court has sentenced a man to nine years and eleven months in prison after he set fire to his girlfriend’s apartment, causing €42,000 in damage.
The couple from the Camp de Morvedre region got into an argument in September 2021 about the man taking pills and swilling them down with gin.
His response was to go berserk as he trashed furniture, smashed the television, and broke the coffee-maker.
The girlfriend left and spent the night at a friend’s house but her partner contacted her by phone and threatened to set fire to her apartment if she did not return home.
She refused to accede to his demands and he went into her bedroom and started a blaze.
Residents of the apartment block had to be evacuated and two other homes and a common area were affected by the fire.
The man tried to run away but was intercepted by two neighbours who pinned him down before the Guardia Civil took him into custody.
Besides his lengthy jail term, the arsonist was ordered to pay €28,455 for damage to his girlfriend’s home that was not covered by insurance, as well as €18,500 in compensation to his neighbours.
He was also given a €3,000 bill to cover the costs of extinguishing the fire.
