11-year-old charged in school arson
His name is being withheld by authorities, but an eleven year old Belize City boy is in big trouble tonight, charged with the crime of attempted arson. The target? His school. Patrick Jones has the story.
Patrick Jones, Reporting
Central Christian School on Freetown Road is still standing, but if one of its students had his way, the story today would have been much different. According to officials at the Fire Department, there were multiple attempts to burn the building down, starting early on Easter Monday morning.
Ernest Dominguez, Station Supervisor, National Fire Service
“On responding, arriving on the scene, we found a teacher’s desk on fire. We extinguished it, we couldn’t get in the class, but the desk was approximately four feet from the window. What happened there, apparently someone threw some type of accelerant through the window as the windows are all broken out and lit it on fire.”
The fire did not have the desired effect as only some textbooks, other small items and the teacher’s desk were destroyed. But later the same day the arsonist was back at work and then again on Tuesday afternoon and again on Wednesday.
Ernest Dominguez
“A concerned citizen living nearby saw the person actually around the window and called us…No major damage has been done to the building, only the centre piece post for the window had been burnt and the teacher’s desk.”
Fire Station Supervisor Ernest Dominguez apprehended an eleven-year-old suspect and later turned him over to police. It is believed that kerosene was used to make the fire spread. But the incidents at Central Christian School were not the only ones the firemen had to deal with this week as a similar attempt on a business establishment on the southside ended in much the same way.
Ernest Dominguez
“We had a Chinese grocery shop on Iguana Street that three attempts were made, similar to the school, to destroy it. Fortunately someone saw the fire at an early stage and called the department. We got to it before it escalated.”
Patrick Jones, for News 5.
Police say the two incidents are not necessarily related. Central Christian School opened in 1978 and currently has a student population of two hundred and twenty-five. The accused eleven year old and his older brother transferred to C.C.S. in September of last year. The boy remains in custody as police consider levelling additional charges for the multiple arson attempts.
