Seinäjoki apartment fire trial includes aggravated theft and arson charges

The South Ostrobothnia District Court is hearing charges linked to an apartment fire and theft in Seinäjoki’s Kasperi district in June, Yle reports. One man is accused of stealing nearly 140,000 euros and setting fire to the apartment, while prosecutors are seeking a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence.

Two men are on trial, and the residents of the destroyed apartment are also from Myanmar. The second man faces a charge of aiding aggravated theft. Prosecutors are seeking at least a one-year suspended prison sentence for him.

The apartment was rented by the mother and grandmother of a family that had arrived in Finland as refugees. The adult daughter lived with her children in a separate apartment but visited her mother almost daily.

According to the charges, the daughter’s former husband entered the apartment and stole a substantial amount of money. Prosecutors say the amount totalled nearly 140,000 euros in euros and Thai baht. The injured parties claim the actual value of the stolen property was up to twice as high because valuable jewellery was also taken.

Prosecutors say the accused knew about the money and where it was kept through the family’s father, the mother’s former husband. They believe he either handed over a key to the apartment or left the door open to allow the theft.

The principal defendant has admitted the theft, and the stolen money has since been returned to the injured parties.

He is also accused of starting a fire in the apartment’s bedroom using petrol. The fire developed explosively, shattered a window and sent shards of glass into the surrounding area. It caused extensive damage inside the apartment, while smoke spread to several other apartments in the same stairwell, leaving surfaces covered in soot and smelling of smoke.

The fire also spread through the window to the apartment building’s roof. The housing company suffered financial losses of at least 300,000 euros. Two people sustained minor injuries, and two cars parked outside were damaged.

Prosecutors say the fire created a serious danger to the lives or health of a large number of people.

The trial has been slowed by interpreting problems. At the second hearing, the court said it had still been unable to obtain an interpreter for the correct language despite efforts to do so. The proceedings continued with a Burmese-language interpreter, while some of the parties understood Finnish.

The first hearing took place about two weeks earlier. According to the judge, the interpreting situation was entirely exceptional.