Arsonist fined instead of prison time

A Belize City man was spared jail time after being convicted on March fourteenth of arson on the house of the mother of his ex. Thirty-five year old Brian Barrella appeared on Monday evening before Justice Adolph Lucas for sentencing.  During the mitigation plea, family members and friends spoke on Barrella’s behalf asking for leniency. Carolee Anderson, ex common-law wife, her mother and the arresting officer also testified against him in trial. The incident occurred just before dawn on February sixteenth 2008 during an argument between Barrella and Anderson, at her mother’s house on the George Price Highway. Barrella knocked on her room’s window asking her to let him in so he could retrieve his clothes but when Anderson refused, he removed the window louvers. A struggle ensued between them and Barrella pulled out a lighter and lit the curtain on fire. For the Arson conviction, he received a non-custodial sentence of a fine of three thousand five hundred dollars which is to be paid by September twenty-seventh or he is to serve twelve months in prison.