Man jailed for hiring friend to set fire outside the flat he co-owned

Unhappy with his ex-wife and son for locking him out of their flat, he splashed paint at the unit and paid someone to set fire to a mattress outside the apartment he co-owned.

Safie Jantan, 57, was yesterday sentenced to seven months and three weeks' jail.

He pleaded guilty to three charges involving mischief. Four similar charges were taken into consideration.

The court heard that on Feb 8, Safie removed the entire metal gate from the unit after his ex-wife and son had changed the gate's lock to prevent him from returning and harassing them.

The son later paid more than $600 to replace the gate.

Then on Feb 17, Safie returned to the unit and discovered the lock had been changed.

Furious, he splashed paint on the door, before calling the police to inform them of what he had done.

He also told the police he had left the location.

Safie's son made a police report on Feb 23.

In the early hours of Feb 26, Safie paid a friend $300 to set fire to a mattress outside the unit.

The friend did so using a lighter, but the fire spread to other items in the corridor that belonged to Safie, including a refrigerator, cupboards and shoe racks.

The items were kept in the corridor by his ex-wife and son, and they had told him to collect them.

The fire gutted the corridor, damaged the unit's door and gate, and also affected the neighbouring unit.

The costs for repair and restoration amounted to more than $9,800.

Both the ex-wife and son were sleeping when the fire broke out, but were able to escape unhurt after firefighters extinguished the flames.

Safie is currently out on bail of $15,000, and is expected to surrender himself to begin serving his sentence on Dec 2.

For each charge of mischief, he could have been jailed for up to a year, or fined, or both.

For each charge of mischief by fire, he could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined.

This article was first published in The New Paper. Permission required for reproduction.