Teenager to face trial over jailhouse fire

(CNS): A sixteen-year-old boy will face trial in February next year over a fire he set at the George Town police station. The teenager has admitted to lighting the fire but has denied that he intended to harm anyone as a result. Despite efforts by his attorney to negotiate the charges, the crown is insisting that the teenager intended to ‘endanger life’ when he set fire to a mattress in his cell. The teen has also pleaded guilty to arson following a fire he set in the West Bay lock-up a few days before, but despite his admission the teenager will now go to trial. The teenager, who had been arrested and was in custody at the time, was only fifteen when he set the two fires. 

Representing the youngster, defence attorney John Furniss explained that the trial would boil down to the very narrow issue of whether his client was merely careless or whether he intended harm by his actions, which the teenager has denied.