Container set on fire

Schoolboy (15) sentenced to a hefty fine

The accused was heavily incriminated by his colleagues.(Bild: Chantal Dorn)

A 15-year-old youth had to answer for several arsons in Bregenz at the Feldkirch regional court. In the end, he got off with a partial fine.  

The container fire in Bregenz's Schulgasse at the beginning of April last year made headlines. Unknown persons had set fire to the 1100 liter container parked near the entrance to the house at around 9 pm. The container quickly caught fire. The fire department had to be called out. One woman was taken to hospital with suspected smoke inhalation. The act of the little firebugs also caused property damage of around 15,000 euros.

After analyzing the video footage from the camera installed in the entrance area, three boys were identified. Two of them have already been convicted of other container fires. On Thursday, the third in the group, a 15-year-old pupil, was sentenced. He was sentenced to a partial fine of 1,440 euros by Martin Mitteregger, the presiding judge of the jury senate.

Judge Martin Mitteregger did not want to spoil the defendant's future. Although the fine was high, it would not appear on the certificate of good character.(Bild: Chantall Dorn)

Half of the sentence was suspended. During the brief deliberation, the senate came to the conclusion that the defendant had played a minor role in the container fire in Bregenz Schulgasse.

The convicted man, who had already denied being the arsonist in the previous hearing at the beginning of March, breathed a sigh of relief. "We were first at the youth club in Bregenz and later went into town to buy a kebab," he claimed at the time. Suddenly one of his two buddies was gone. When he reappeared, he confessed to having set fire to a cardboard box in the garbage container, the pupil added.

Colleagues heavily incriminated the 15-year-old
The statements of the already convicted arsonists sounded completely different. The two colleagues heavily incriminated the 15-year-old by claiming that the accused had started the fire in the entrance to the house in Schulgasse with a Bunsen burner. The sentence imposed is already legally binding.