Again and again it burns, the uncertainty is great, until the police catch a suspect. The man is with the fire department. The deeds are a cry for help, he says. The court doesn’t believe him.
Heilbronn – A series of arson attacks kept people in Gundelsheim (Baden-Württemberg) and the surrounding area in suspense for months. Sometimes a barn goes up in flames, sometimes it’s an inn, cars or haystacks.
That the Zündler will be tracked down in the ranks of the volunteer fire brigade, of all things, that only a few would have thought. Nevertheless, the investigators will find what they are looking for there. And the penalty is clear. A 32-year-old has been sentenced to ten years in prison by the Heilbronn district court for the serious arson, but mainly for attempted murder in four cases.
The man is said to have started at least seven fires between April 2019 and November 2020, according to the chamber he had admitted further acts since January 2019, but they were not part of the indictment. Among other things, according to the court, he set fire to cars, haystacks, barns, a residential and an inn and a clubhouse. At that time, the damage totaled around half a million euros.
Human lives in danger
Because one of the sheds was near a house in which a family of four slept, the man was also convinced that the man was putting human lives at risk. The family was able to respond in a timely manner and was unharmed.
The arsonist had admitted several, but not all, acts in court. He does not want to have seen the house by the barn fire, but a fire expert contradicted this in the proceedings. The chamber is also convinced: “You wanted to destroy the shed. They wanted to terrify the residents of the house, ”said Judge Roland Kleinschroth. “They were very, very lucky that nothing more happened,” he added.
The public prosecutor’s office had demanded ten and a half years in prison for the trained cook, who had only joined the volunteer fire brigade shortly before the arson. The man was “very well aware that people live there,” the public prosecutor emphasized in her plea about the fire in the shed. The motive for the acts was an urge for recognition.
In contrast, the defendant tried to explain the fires as the result of a depressive disorder. His actions were a cry for help to attract attention, “so that I can be helped,” said the 32-year-old. His defense lawyer considered seven to eight years in prison to be sufficient.
Fear and Loathing
Judge Kleinschroth did not believe the defendant here either. “You wanted to provoke the operations with your participation,” he said. In fact, the number of fires and fire services in the region has increased since the 32-year-old joined the fire service. Kleinschroth said that the German had terrified the residents of the small town for months.
This is not the first time a firefighter has been in a dock following arson this year. Among other things, a 43-year-old man was sentenced to nine years and three months in prison in mid-June in Heilbronn. He had started several fires in his apartment as well as at a church and a police station in Marbach.
The chamber had classified the act as attempted murder and attempted serious arson resulting in death. The man had declared that he started the fires because he was dissatisfied with the political system.
Firemen as arsonists? Of all things? In such cases, according to an earlier assessment by experts, the actual rescuers often want attention and reassurance. According to an older study by the Chair of Criminology at the Law Faculty of the Ruhr University Bochum, young firefighters in particular want to prove themselves in fire fighting. Arsonists in the fire brigade are still the clear exception. However, there are no reliable figures on arson firefighters. dpa
