Series of fires in Wasseramt SO: Ex-firefighter denies accusations
Published: Monday, Sep 16th 2024, 18:02
العودة إلى البث المباشر
On Monday, a 35-year-old man had to answer to the Bucheggberg-Wasseramt district court in Solothurn for twelve arsons. The public prosecutor's office demanded a prison sentence of 15 years for the Swiss man. The defense wants an acquittal. According to the prosecution, the motive was the love rejected by a fellow firefighter.
The series of twelve fires in spring 2022 caused great uncertainty, fear and mutual mistrust in Wasseramt, a rural region south of the cantonal capital of Solothurn.
Unobtrusive man without many words
A defendant who looked like an unremarkable businessman with glasses, short-cropped hair and a beard sat in front of the district court on Monday. He said about the series of fires and the fire department operations: "It was very stressful. You had to expect it to continue." During the trial, he again denied the arson charges.
The evidence largely speaks against the accused, as the questioning made clear. Already in the first arson on April 2, 2022 - the clubhouse of the Halten SO hornussen club went up in flames - the analyzed cell phone data showed that the Swiss national had been in the area at the time of the crime. The court president wanted to know from the defendant how he explained this. "I don't know," said the man.
Public prosecutor demanded high penalty
The public prosecutor expressed no doubts. He demanded a prison sentence of 15 years. The overall picture of the evidence was correct. The sources of the fire were "extremely similar", he said in his plea.
There was "overwhelming, crystal-clear evidence" that the accused had carried out the arsons. This included various DNA traces and cell phone data on his locations at the time of the fires. On a Sunday after the arsons, the first thing he did after sleeping in was to buy a new pack of kindling.
The Swiss man should be found guilty of multiple counts of arson, multiple counts of trespassing and multiple counts of cruelty to animals, the public prosecutor demanded.
Ten sheep were killed in a fire. The former firefighter is charged with a total of twelve arsons. There were no injuries. According to the public prosecutor's office, however, people's lives were endangered. According to the indictment, buildings and furniture were damaged to the tune of around 5.7 million francs.
Firefighter colleague rejects love
The public prosecutor outlined an emotional crisis of the 35-year-old as a possible motive. The accused is said to have fallen in love with a colleague in his fire department and harassed him. However, this "Mr. X" rejected the crush unequivocally. The accused did not want to talk to the public prosecutor about it.
The public in the region had a different image of the accused, the public prosecutor explained. He had been extremely popular and respected. Many had believed that the wrong person had been arrested.
Defense: No motive, no evidence
The defense lawyer demanded an acquittal. She said that there was no consistent signature of the perpetrator - because there was also no consistent perpetration. The motive was missing. As a firefighter, he had not played the hero in the firefighting operations. He had never been seen setting a fire. Everything was based solely on his cell phone data in the vicinity of the fires.
A forensic psychiatric expert ruled out a personality disorder in the accused and very probably a pyromania (pathological urge to set fires). At the time of the crimes, however, the man had been consuming alcohol to a harmful degree.
The district court heard the case in the courtroom of the higher court: almost 40 private individuals followed the trial at the beginning. The district court, which sat in a three-judge panel, is expected to open the verdict on Friday.
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