"Seeing Other Men?" ... 40s Man Sentenced to Prison for Stealing Girlfriend's Phone and Setting Fire at Home

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Ju Cheol-in] A man in his 40s who set fire to his girlfriend's house on suspicion that she was seeing another man was sentenced to three years in prison.

The Changwon District Court Criminal Division 2 (Chief Judge Lee Jeong-hyun) announced on the 13th that it sentenced A (43), who was tried for arson of a dwelling, to three years in prison.

On the morning of September 23 last year, A broke into his girlfriend B's (45) house in Uichang-gu, Changwon-si, Gyeongnam, poured gasoline he had prepared in advance on the floor and the entrance, and set it on fire with a lighter.

The two had been dating for about three months, but B was known to have been avoiding meetings since early September last year.

Believing that B was seeing another man, A entered B's house on September 21, two days before the crime, by entering a known password and stole two mobile phones.

Afterward, A took 1 liter of gasoline and broke into B's house around 12:15 a.m. on the 23rd, poured gasoline on the floor, and set fire to burn the entire 50㎡ house. At that time, the girlfriend was not at home, so there were no casualties.

During the trial, A denied the arson charges, but this was not accepted.

The court stated, "The crime scene was a building where multiple households lived, and the crime occurred at midnight when other residents were sleeping. It was an act with a high risk of causing multiple victims or large-scale damage."

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