No Charges to be Brought against Tenant Who Torched Cleghorn Street Apartment
On Friday morning, a house fire on Cleghorn Street destroyed the upper flat of a two-storey wooden structure. The blaze was the result of a tenant deliberately setting his room on fire. While it was initially reported as a failed suicide attempt, investigators have learned that the renter may be suffering from mental health issues. As such, the owners of the property have opted not to take legal action against him. ASP Alejandro Cowo told the media today that the unnamed individual has since been released from police custody.
Alejandro Cowo
ASP Alejandro Cowo, O.C., C.I.B., Belize City
“On Friday, police visited December 21st, 2018, police at about 9:30 a.m., police visited 6701 Cleghorn Street, the scene of a fire. Upon arrival, police observed a wooden structure, two-storey, where they observed that the upper flat of the building was on fire. Fire personnel arrived at the location where the fire was extinguished and thereafter [during] an inspection of the building it was noted that contents from inside of the upper flat and the lower flat were damaged. The upper flat was due to the fire and the lower flat because of water damage. Portion of the inside of the house was also damaged due to the fire. The estimated value of the damages is fifteen thousand dollars, Belize currency. What information we gather is that the room where the fire began, it was being rented by a male person. When we interviewed the owner of the house, they mentioned that apparently the tenant was suffering from some kind of mental disorder and he was claiming that he was afraid that somebody was coming to attack him and he had locked up himself inside of the house and he ended up lighting some of the clothes that he had in the building for him to escape from the building. That person was detained, he was in police custody, he was questioned and thereafter he was released from police custody. It’s a matter that police are investigating as the owner of the house; they do not request any court action into the matter.”
