The Regional Court in Inowrocław on Tuesday arrested for two months a 61-year-old man suspected of involuntary causing fire which had led to the death of a woman and her three daughters - the spokesperson for the District Prosecutor's Office in Bydgoszcz, Agnieszka Adamska-Okońska.
The tragic fire in a tenement building in Inowrocław, which took the lives of a 31-year-old woman and her three daughters aged 3 months, four and five years, broke out in early afternoon on Monday.
Before filing a request for him to be temporarily arrested, the prosecutor charged the man with involuntary causing a fire which resulted in the death of four people. Such charges can result in prison sentence ranging from 6 months to 8 years.
Prosecutor Adamska-Okońska stressed that grounds on which the charges had been formulated included the man's careless usage of a cooker connected to a gas cylinder.
"The man basically pleaded guilty. According to our findings, he was under the influence of alcohol when the accident happened. He gave a statement in which some parts didn't match our findings regarding his later actions," she added.
The investigation will be continued. Autopsy of the victims was scheduled for Wednesday. A detailed opinion by the expert witness on firefighting will be necessary, as by far, the prosecutor's office has only received a protocol from his questioning.
The prosecutor investigating the case has filed a request in the court to place the suspect under temporary arrest.
The 61-year-old was detained on Monday evening, on the day of the tragedy. His flat directly adjoins the flat where the woman and her daughters had lived.
The examination at the fire scene, carried out by the prosecutor assisted by an expert witness, resulted in a conclusion that the fire had broke out in the detained man's flat, and then spread further. All objects that could have potentially caused the fire have been secured, including the gas cooker from the man's flat.
The man was available for questioning only on Tuesday afternoon, as he had to sober up. When he was detained he had 0.3% alcohol content in his body.
Before charging the man, the prosecutor questioned the expert witness on firefighting, who took part in the inspection of the fire scene.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP