A 45-year-old farm worker was sentenced to three years in prison, one of which was suspended, by a court in Niort on Monday for starting eleven fires in the Deux-Sèvres and Maine-et-Loire departments. The man used a blowtorch to ignite the blazes, which fortunately resulted in no injuries. The prosecutor described the defendant as an arsonist suffering from depression, a profile that partly explains the nature and frequency of his actions.
Voices and a blowtorch
Before the magistrates, the accused spoke of a general feeling of exasperation, visions, and voices that he claimed commanded him to set fires. These justifications were taken into account during the psychiatric evaluation, but did not diminish the seriousness of the charges against him. The fires, committed intentionally, could have had far more dramatic consequences.
The sentence reflects the court's desire to firmly punish these acts while taking into account the perpetrator's psychological fragility. The man will serve two years in prison, a sentence that marks the end of a series of fires that had alarmed residents of the region.
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