Suspended jail term, fine for man in Ajman who set fire to his neighbour’s balcony

Ajman: Ajman Criminal Court has sentenced a 34-year-old Gulf national man to three months in jail, suspended for a period of three years, and a fine of Dh5,000 for intentionally setting his neighbour’s apartment on fire in a residential tower in Ajman.

The court said the accused had committed an act that would have endangered the life of the victim — an Arab woman — as he had intentionally set the balcony of the apartment on fire, thereby damaging the door of the victim’s apartment.

According to records, a report was received by the Al Madina Comprehensive Police Station from the complainant, saying that one of her neighbours of Gulf nationality — who was accused of throwing stones and burning bottles in her balcony — had set fire to the balcony of her apartment, thereby damaging the apartment’s main door. Following her complaint, a police patrol reached the victim’s apartment and investigations revealed that there was indeed a damage to the front door of the apartment. Police also found stones and burnt clothes in the balcony. Following the investigations, a report was filed in the police station, the victim’s statement was registered and the accused was arrested.

The victim said her neighbour used to disturb her by throwing stones from the balcony of his apartment to her apartment. He used an iron rod to pull out items from her balcony and had also damaged the front door of her apartment.

During interrogation, the accused admitted to all the charges levelled against him. He told Public Prosecution that he had bought soft drink bottles, cloth and fuel. He then stuffed the bottles with fuel-soaked cloth, lit them and hurled them on to the balcony of the victim’s apartment. He also said that he had struck the main door of the victim’s apartment with a screwdriver.

During a search operation at the accused’s apartment, police found petrol cans, a screwdriver, cotton and a wall-drilling machine.

The accused said that he had carried out those actions because he was annoyed with his neighbour for the frequent knockings on the divider wall between his apartment and the victim’s apartment and also because of knockings on his door, for which, he claimed he had registered nine complaints with the police against the victim.