A man, a native of Madeira, accused of setting fire to the area of the parish of Camacha, Santa Cruz municipality, the neighbouring municipality east of Funchal, has been found guilty in court. He was arrested by the Public Security Police (PSP) on the night of 15th August 2016
“The court has decided to sentence a three-year prison sentence, which, given the criminal background, cannot be suspended, is effective,” said the presiding judge of the court, Filipe Câmara, arguing that the man “accepted almost full facts” of which he had been accused.
The court found that the man, at around 2200 hrs on 12th August after consuming alcohol all day”, decided with a lighter to set fire to a zone of bush in the area of his residence in Camacha , Santa Cruz county, east of Madeira, where he lived with his mother and a brother, the latter who warned firefighters.
The judge pointed out that the fire “quickly spread but did not reach greater proportions due to the rapid intervention of the firemen”. It consumed about 1200 meters of weeds and some trees.
The court found that the defendant knew that he “endangered other people’s property and the life integrity” of others, but took into account that “the damage was not so high.”
This case was the less serious of the two cases of people detained in August for this type of crime. In the other a 23-year-old man was charged with three homicides for allegedly setting fire to the parish of São Roque, in the outskirts of Funchal.
Ricardo Gouveia pointed out that there was “a set of mitigating factors”, namely that the accused “fully confessed, presented himself as caregiver of the family and, besides, the damages were not many”.
The lawyer also said that the defendant needs “psychiatric and psychological help,” presenting “symptoms” of pyromania, adding that “he will speak to the family of the accused to seriously consider filing a motion to obtain a less severe sentence. Source Jornel de Noticais