Photo is unrelated to this article. [Getty Images Bank]
Photo is unrelated to this article. [Getty Images Bank]

A man in his 70s who broke into the wrong apartment and set it on fire — mistakenly believing the unit above his was the source of noise — has been sentenced to prison.

The 12th Criminal Division of the Daejeon District Court, presiding judge Kim Byeong-man, sentenced the man to three years in prison on charges of aggravated property destruction, arson of an occupied structure, residential trespass and obstruction of official duties, according to legal sources Wednesday.

The man was indicted after he broke down the front door of a third-floor unit in a multi-family residential building in Jung-gu, Daejeon, at around 8:20 p.m. on March 18, entered the unit and set fire to bedding and pillows.

The investigation found he had mistakenly believed the noise was coming from the unit above his. No one was inside the apartment at the time.

Fire crews extinguished the blaze in about six minutes, preventing a major fire or casualties. Police arrested the man about two hours after the incident near the building. During the arrest, he kicked and slapped responding officers.

The court said arson "carries an extremely high social risk, as it can cause serious harm to the lives and property of many people," adding that the defendant had reoffended despite multiple prior convictions for violent crimes and had not been forgiven by the victims.

However, the court said it considered "the fact that the defendant admitted to and showed remorse for the crime, that the offense appears to have been committed impulsively while intoxicated, and that no casualties resulted from the fire" in determining the sentence.


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