Plzen court hears case of disabled man's death in house fire in Cheb region
A man appeared before Plzen regional court accused of deliberately setting fire to a house in Marianske Lazne in October 2023. A fifty-eight-year-old neighbour with severe mobility impairment died in the tragedy. The accused claims someone else started the fire.
Plzen court hears case of disabled man's death in house fire in Cheb region
The regional court in Plzen began hearing a case in which a fifty-eight-year-old man with severe health problems lost his life. State prosecutor Markéta Michlová has charged fifty-nine-year-old Dezidor Čureja with murder and damage to foreign property.
The indictment alleges that the accused deliberately set fire in October 2023 on Nakladní Street in Marianske Lazne. He allegedly used petrol and textiles, with the fire reportedly starting in at least two places. Particularly grave is that the flames allegedly erupted directly on the only escape route available to the tenant with severe mobility problems. Within minutes, the fire spread so rapidly that the roof collapsed and the building's structures fell in. According to doctors, the deceased man collapsed from cyanide poisoning and carbon monoxide. The property owner suffered damage exceeding two million crowns.
Before the court, Čureja denied any involvement in the tragedy. He admitted that after the breakdown of his relationship with his partner he became addicted to methamphetamine, but had not used any narcotic substance on the day of the incident. "I heard some noise in the corridor, someone was running downstairs. Outside I then saw flames and started shouting to my neighbour. He did not respond to me," he recounted his version of events before the court.
The accused stressed that he had no conflict with the victim. "I would never have done this to a friend who lived with me. But nobody believed me because they considered me a junkie," the man said in his defence.
The trial will continue.
Source: Novinky.cz