Arsonist sentenced to 5 years in prison

In other court news, an American accused of arson has been found guilty and sentenced to spend five years in jail. Thirty-eight old Mauricio Banaza pleaded guilty to setting fire to his Mohammed Street apartment in December 2006, but Justice Adolph Lucas ordered that he undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine his mental competence. That report showed Banaza understands the charge against him and Lucas proceeded to hand down a sentence of five years. Banaza was undefended during the trial while crown counsel Cecil Ramirez prosecuted. On the day of the fire, Banaza’s neighbour, Beverley Longsworth, told police she saw smoke coming from the apartment but when she asked him what was happening, he assured her that he was just smoking a cigarette. When the smoke didn’t stop, Longsworth called 911 and the officers who responded to the scene put out the flames that were burning the plywood walls of the structure. The apartment building’s owner put the fire’s damage at eight hundred dollars.