Grundhof fire: 20 years' imprisonment sought against former firefighter arsonist
A former firefighter is on trial in Diekirch for setting fire to a building in Grundhof in May 2023, which affected 26 victims. The prosecutor has sought 20 years' imprisonment.
Trial in Diekirch: twenty years sought against former firefighter who set fire to his own building
"It is 59 years of my life that went up in smoke. What I have lived through, I wish it on no one." These words, spoken by one of the 26 victims of the Grundhof arson fire, rang out in the courtroom of the Diekirch tribunal on Thursday. According to L'Essentiel, the prosecutor sought a sentence of twenty years' imprisonment against the accused, a man named Bob, a former firefighter suspected of starting a fire in May 2023 in the building where he lived, located in the municipality of Beaufort.
The fire broke out on the night of 10 to 11 May 2023. The investigation established that Bob had set fire to a tarpaulin stored in the building's attic. This was not a first offence: he had already been convicted of wilful arson and is believed to have also burned two chalets at Grundhof campsite in 2019. The Diekirch tribunal is in its second day of hearings.
26 victims, a building still uninhabitable
Several residents came to testify about their trauma. "I lost a collection of old cameras, some of which were left to me by my father," one of the victims recounted. Following the fire, the man left the country to take refuge in France, where his family is originally from. The building remains uninhabitable to this day.
The majority of victims are seeking damages of 5,000 euros each. Some present themselves alone at the bar, without a lawyer and without knowing precisely what to request, but all share the same finding: "That night, I lost everything."
Suspicious behaviour noted on the night of the incident
In his closing statement, the prosecutor recalled that residents had quickly reported the accused's unusual behaviour during the fire. One witness remembers seeing him "running back and forth in slippers" with a fire extinguisher in front of the flames. Heavily intoxicated, Bob is also said to have hindered the firefighters' work, telling them: "Give me a jacket, I was a firefighter, I want to help you."
During interrogations, the accused quickly confessed: "You are right, I set the fire and then I put it out hoping that things will get better, but this time, things did not go well." He does not dispute the two fires. However, the magistrate specified that Bob does not present pyromania in the medical sense of the term, notably because of his alcohol consumption preceding each act.
The aggravating circumstance: 23 residents were asleep in the building
The prosecutor emphasised a central element: on the night of the fire, 23 of the 26 residents were at home, asleep. "We can talk of good fortune that nothing more serious happened that night," he stated. As a former firefighter, Bob should have known, according to the prosecution, that the fire would spread within minutes from the tarpaulin he had set ablaze.
The defence pleads addiction and calls for rehabilitation
The defence lawyer, Me Stroesser, who has been representing Bob for almost twenty years, acknowledged that his client "should have thought about the consequences", but argued that "one can no longer think as one should" in a state of advanced drunkenness. He also highlighted the alcohol addiction from which the accused has suffered since childhood, his mother herself being an alcoholic. "My client must not remain in prison for the rest of his life, he must come out of it cured," the lawyer concluded.
The verdict is expected on 14 January 2027.
Source: L'Essentiel