BHAGWANDAT Singh, convicted of unlawfully and maliciously setting fire to the dwelling house of his common law wife, Cheryl Ann La Fleur, was sentenced in his absence, last week Friday, to five years imprisonment by Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo, at Reliance Court, East Canje, Berbice.
Singh, who was, initially denied pre-trial liberty in the lower Court, secured it on a $35,000 bond, in the High Court.
In the bail petition, to Justice Winston Patterson, La Fleur, of Cumberland, East Canje, had said Singh is innocent of the offence and, at the time of the blaze, he was intoxicated and his grasp was weak.
The petitioner swore that Singh was attempting to light a lamp which fell from his hand, spilling kerosene and the flames spread quickly.
La Fleur said, in her affidavit, that Singh, despite his condition, did everything to protect her and their three children, by making sure they were safely out of the building before he abandoned it.
She said she verily believed that he did not act unlawfully or maliciously and the fire occurred accidentally.
According to her, the logger was the lone breadwinner for the family and, while she is the owner of the destroyed property, it was bought with money jointly earned by the two of them.
However, Police Inspector Satrohan Dayaram, prosecuting before Magistrate Nagamootoo, led evidence that the convict, a heavy drinker of alcoholic beverages, would display abusive traits when under the influence.
The case for the Prosecution was that, on June 24, 2009, Singh, intoxicated, had a misunderstanding with La Fleur over the use of a cellular phone and, after she left their home to sleep elsewhere that night, he doused the house with a flammable liquid and set it ablaze.
Since securing bail in the High Court, Singh never attended his trial and the magistrate escheated his surety.