A man in his 50s who took drugs and, in a hallucinated state, set fire to his apartment home was brought to trial in detention but was released with leniency from the court.
The Criminal Division 16 of the Incheon District Court (Presiding Judge Yoon I-jin) said on the 23rd that it sentenced A, 56, who was indicted and detained on charges of setting fire to an occupied building and violating the Narcotics Control Act by using psychotropic drugs, to two years and six months in prison, suspended for three years. The court also ordered A to be placed under probation and to attend 40 hours of drug addiction treatment lectures.
A was indicted on charges of using a lighter and paper to set fire to a blanket at his home on the third floor of a 17-story apartment building in Okryeon-dong, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, at about 1:25 a.m. on Apr. 2, for which he was charged.
At the time of the crime, he injected methamphetamine three times at intervals of two to three hours, fell into the delusion that someone was trying to kill him, committed the crime, went down to the first floor, and was arrested by police in the act.
The court said, "The defendant has multiple prior convictions for narcotics crimes, yet used methamphetamine and, seized by delusions, set fire to the apartment," and explained, "Many residents live in the apartment, so there was a high risk of damage from the fire."
However, it stated the sentencing grounds as follows: "It appears that the fire did not spread to other units nor did other residents get injured in this incident," adding, "We considered that the defendant, immediately after setting the fire, informed nearby residents of the fire to prompt evacuation and asked the security guard to report it, thereby trying to prevent the spread of damage."