A man was sentenced Thursday to two years in prison, including six months closed, by the court of Mende (Lozère), for having caused about thirty fires in the Cévennes, which he wanted to “clean up with fire” . Justice accompanied the sentence with a measure of five years of socio-judicial follow-up with obligation of care.
Between 2018 and 2020, the defendant, in his twenties, set fire to wooded areas, waste containers and a vehicle. The material damage is estimated at 66,000 euros, and the intervention costs of the firefighters at 27,900 euros.
The man says he “gave in to irrepressible impulses”
The prosecutor, Vincent Blériot, also underlined the heavy ecological consequences, pointing in particular to the destruction in February 2020 of 50 hectares of a third generation Mediterranean forest, “a real little ecological treasure”.
The man explained to have “given in to irrepressible impulses”, evoking an “inability to control oneself by seeing vegetation”. He also alluded to the severity of a grandfather who constantly forced him to clean, which would have prompted him to have a need to “clean” with fire. According to the expert psychiatrist who examined him, it is about a “psychic or neurological disorder having altered his discernment”. The prosecutor, while acknowledging this deterioration of discernment, stressed that this had not prevented him from preparing his acts by taking matches and cans of gasoline.