Three defendants accused of setting fire to a house and causing the death of a dog in Arrecife will be tried on May 5 by the Second Section of the Provincial Court, with a request for 13 years in prison, absolute disqualification and payment of the cost of the damages caused.
According to the indictment of the Public Prosecutor's Office, the events occurred in the early morning of February 26, 2018, "taking advantage of the fact that the residents were not in the house."
The three defendants, of legal age and without criminal records, "bought gasoline at the Disa de Maneje service station and went to the address in question." Once there, they proceeded to set fire to the house "knowing that, with their action, they were causing material damage, as well as physical damage that their action could cause to the people who lived in said property."
In addition, the Prosecutor's Office document details that the intervention of the emergency service was necessary to extinguish the fire, given the "large amount of smoke, spreading rapidly through the combustion through the floors of the building."
It also points out that, "if it had not been for the rapid intervention of the fire extinguishing services, the fire could have spread through the adjoining houses that were occupied, a circumstance that was known by all the defendants."
However, the fire did claim the life of a Bull Terrier dog, which was inside the victims' house, while the neighbors had to be evacuated due to the "risk of fire spreading and the toxic action of the smoke."
In addition to a 13-year prison sentence, the prosecutor is now asking for a joint fine of 14,251 euros for the damage caused to the property, 938 euros for the movable property and 100 euros for the death of the animal.