A 42 year-old pizza maker employed in Monaco has been sent to jail by a French court following the setting of a fire at the home of his ex-lover in Roquebrune.
Identified only as Sébastien B, the chef had threatened his ex by text message and followed up by setting her front door on fire having doused it with petrol. Police personnel called to the scene were able to put out the blaze but inhaled toxic fumes.
It took several weeks before the culprit was apprehended after lying low in Beausoleil, at which point he admitted his guilt.
“I could have killed people. I was no longer myself,” he told police.
During his remand in custody he was examined by a psychiatrist who came up with a diagnosis of him being ‘impulsive.’
The defence lawyer claimed that his client knew the apartment was empty when he set the fire.
In the end, the pizza maker was sentenced to 18 months jail, nine of them suspended, plus two years probation and an order not to contact his former romantic partner.
