On paper he is ‘a good citizen’ – suspected of arson

The lawyer is going hard today. First he tries to stop the prosecution by having the officer declared inadmissible. Seventy file pages would be legally ‘not possible’. Because it came from a damage appraiser who made discriminatory statements about the burned-out apartment. Next to a photo of a door “with a brown smudge,” the lawyer read: “Whether this is poop or peanut butter cannot be determined.” More serious: it is a report of an incriminating conversation in which his client was not informed of his right to remain silent. And the damage report would be from someone who took a “one-afternoon course”, at most “at intermediate vocational level”.

But his most important point is that the direct involvement of Mahesh, who works in construction, in the fire in an Amersfoort apartment in January has not been proven. Only his presence there around the time of the fire is certain. That’s it. Alternative scenarios cannot be ruled out, the lawyer emphasizes. If this were insurance fraud, where is the insurer’s declaration and who should be the beneficiary? Not his client, who systematically denies it. At that point the officer backs down: she demands an acquittal for fraud. It weakens her case, which rests entirely on supporting evidence.

Turpentine and motor fuel

Mahesh had already been in police custody for 100 days. At the beginning of this year, a fire unexpectedly broke out in the bedroom and an office space in the apartment he (49) lived in with his parents. It was determined that it was probably caused by liquid. It happened about fifteen minutes after, according to the elevator cameras, Mahesh had left the apartment building. The neighbors raised the (fire) alarm. Short circuit or a technical cause? Ruled out. The traces indicate turpentine and motor fuel and are located “in illogical places”, characteristic of arson. That afternoon, the suspect got a liter of motor fuel in a Coke bottle at a gas station to clean his paint brushes, he told the police. For a painting job.

There were no signs of forced entry in the apartment. The front door was intact, the lock not forced or tampered with. The door window was damaged but still closed. Climbing in was not possible, the balconies are too far apart. Access with the key made the most sense. The parents were absent. Only Mahesh was there. There were only three keys. There’s no way he was the perpetrator. The officer demands thirty months in prison, six of which are conditional, minus pre-trial detention. This could so easily have gone wrong.

The officer also briefly discusses that motive. Why was Mahesh’s girlfriend the representative of the (demented) mother? The story ‘doesn’t add up’. She suspects manipulations, but cannot prove them. Gossip, gossip, shouts the lawyer. All suggestions!

suspectMahesh (49) I don’t keep a log of when I eat, go to the bathroom or go outside!

Mahesh has no history with the law. The probation service couldn’t find anything wrong with him. “You are actually a good citizen,” the judge summarizes. He spends a lot of time on how Mahesh behaved that afternoon. After yet another question, he exclaims: “I really don’t keep a log of when I eat, go to the toilet or go outside. It’s my territory!”

But why did Mahesh, an amateur musician, move his suitcases with instruments to the (stone cold) storage room that afternoon? He also chose illogical routes out of the apartment building. Did he avoid surveillance cameras? Examination of his telephone revealed that he was in debt. Was Mahesh looking for quick money? In telephone taps, relatives spoke about his past. “Are you familiar with fire?” asks a judge. Yes, okay, he once had a “beautiful house in French Guiana – it burned down.”

Two weeks later the court rules that there was “no other choice” than Mahesh setting the fire. This created a “foreseeable danger to life” for the residents. Fraud has not been proven. He receives 24 months in prison, 6 of which are conditional, less than required because he is a ‘first offender’.

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