He is 30 years old. Before setting a store at Łęczycka street in Kutno on fire, he rented a room in a nearby hotel to get a good view. The man, who is facing up to 10 years in prison for causing damage worth nearly 3 million zlotys, claims this wasn't his first arson.
Dominik Ozdowski, son of the owner of the store at Łęczycka street, said he had been informed about the fire on Saturday around 22:30. "My first thought was that a short circuit might have caused it. Then we thought that probably someone had carelessly dropped a cigarette butt. It was really hard for me to believe someone had done this intentionally," he told tvn24.pl.
Fire service dispatched 10 teams and it took them the whole night to put out the flames. Once they finished, the firemen concluded that this was arson.
"The stock alone was worth 500,000 zlotys. The building suffered from fire and then water. We still don't know if we can save the structure of the store," Ozdowski said.
Good view from a hotel window
A prosecutor's office in Kutno has launched an inquiry into the fire. Police officers who assisted the prosecutor during scene examination noticed a 30-year-old man who not only closely watched the operation, but also tried to help. In the meantime, he was posting videos of the fire online.
"We didn't have cameras outside the store. But the hotel in which this suspiciously-behaving 30-year-old stayed has CCTV," Ozdowski said.
According to the investigators, the perpetrator piled up cardboard boxes on a waste container adjacent to the store and set it on fire. Hotel camera footage shows the 30-year-old approaching that place before the fire, and returning once the store started to burn.
We found out that it's a man travelling with his partner. He has been detained before he managed to leave Kutno, for which I'm extremely grateful," said the store owner's son.
The suspect
On Tuesday, the 30-year-old was charged with arson which had put large property at risk.
"The suspect pleaded guilty. He said that for some time he travelled across Poland together with his female partner. The slept in hotels, recently they rented a room nearby the store. He also admitted he had set fire to a few other buildings in the city of Bydgoszcz," said Krzysztof Kopania from Łódź District Prosecutor's Office.
The man is facing up to 10 years in prison and has been remanded in custody.
"The man will undergo psychiatric evaluation," the prosecutor said.
The investigators say they will check whether the fires the man claims to have started actually happened and if they were a result of arson.
Uncertainty
The owners said the store was insured.
"The cost of construction materials has recently skyrocketed. I'm not sure if the insurance will cover the actual costs that we will have to bear, Dominik Ozdowski said.
He added that over a dozen people worked in the store.
"We want to save all jobs. At the moment we've decided to relocate the employees to our confectioneries and bakeries," he told tvn24.pl.
He hopes that the prosecutor's office will find out whether setting a family-owned store on fire was an accident.
"I trust that the perpetrator's true motifs will be thoroughly examined," Ozdowski said.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, TVN24 Łódź
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: www.panoramakutna.pl