Porvoo arson trial begins; defendant told friends of intentions before fire

print this

A young man charged with setting a fire which badly damaged Porvoo Cathedral in late May this year had spoken of his intentions before lighting the blaze.
      On the first day of the arson trial on Monday, it came out that the man and two other young people in his company were returning home from a local restaurant in the early hours of May 29th when the 18-your-old man started talking about burning the cathedral.
      The recollections of the two others, a young woman and man, were a bit hazy, and they did not take their friend’s incendiary intentions seriously.
     
According to the indictment, the 18-year-old climbed a ladder to the edge of the roof of the vestry, put a wad of paper in the drainpipe, and lit it on fire. The fire spread to the outer roof of the cathedral, which was completely destroyed.
      Soon after the fire broke out, the young man, who admitted to setting the fire, sent an SMS message to a friend, reading "Oops, it looks like I set a church on fire".
      At first the three watched the fire from a distance of just under a kilometre. On the day after the event, the three were in intense contact with each other by mobile phone, and in the evening they turned themselves in to the police.
      Porvoo prosecutor Petri Vaaja said that the man should be sentenced for committing an aggravated act of destruction. Defence counsel Jouko Pelkonen felt that the act could be seen as an act of destruction, but not an aggravated one.
     
The main defendant himself expressed contrition and said that he acted on whim. "I put paper in the drain and lit it. I didn’t think that the fire would spread. It was a mindless act. I have a critical attitude toward religion, but I am not hostile toward it. Now I regret that the foolishness of one person has caused so much harm to many others."
      The judge in the case, Lars Karlsson, asked the defendant about the ladder and the paper. The defendant said that he had shredded advertising leaflets that he had found on the street. "Advertising leaflets are truly dangerous. They should simply not exist", Karlsson said.
      According to the Porvoo Association of Parishes, the costs of the fire are in the range of EUR 4-10 million. Neighbours say that the entire old district of Porvoo, with its famous wooden buildings, was in danger from the sparks that were flying from the burning church to the tarred roofs nearby.
     
Repair work on the Porvoo Cathedral is still in the early stages. It has been decided that the new roof will be made of shingles, just like the old one.
      Plans are to rebuild the roof first, and later to work on repairs to the interior. Temporary roofing will continue to protect the building for about a year and a half. Rental costs for the scaffolding alone total about half a million euros.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Surge in fires in recent months (16.6.2006)
  Three young people come forward and admit lighting Porvoo Cathedral fire (1.6.2006)
  Cathedral fire: Police have "strong suspicions" against suspects (31.5.2006)
  Several suspects apprehended over arson of Porvoo Cathedral (30.5.2006)
  BREAKING NEWS: Major fire severely damages Porvoo Cathedral (29.5.2006)

Links:
  Porvoo Cathedral

Helsingin Sanomat