A Bodden Town resident who set fire to his neighbour’s car in a rage is awaiting sentence after pleading guilty to arson, and causing harassment, alarm or distress.
Fernando Lopez Thompson appeared before Justice Cheryll Richards in Grand Court on Friday, 28 July, via video call from Northward Prison where he is being held.
He faces up to a year-and-a-half in prison for the arson attack and for making violent threats to the victim, with whom he had ongoing disputes.
Crown prosecutor Nicole Petit told the court that on 3 May at 2:12pm, police were called to a report of a vehicle on fire on Kitty Lane in Bodden Town.
They were told the suspect was Thompson and that he might still be at the scene.
When they arrived, they found the Cayman Islands Fire Service conducting a “cooling down operation” on a Jeep Wrangler, which the owner estimated to be worth $2,500, the prosecutor said.
They spoke with the car owner who said he had heard his neighbour, Thompson, arrive home, then heard a loud bang which made him to go outside to see what it was.
He saw his Jeep was on fire so he immediately checked his video doorbell footage and noticed Thompson had come to his door and pressed his doorbell. He had a lighter in his hand.
Officers viewed the footage, and saw that at 1:47pm Thompson walked up to the camera with an object in his hand and was pointing and speaking.
He appeared agitated but there was no audio.
Then, about a minute later, the camera showed him standing at the rear of the Jeep and at 2:07pm the vehicle was ablaze, Petit said.
While police were at the scene, Thompson walked towards the vehicle and started cursing at the victim.
He said he needed to “leave and go back to where he came from”, Petit told the court, and the defendant added that the victim’s house would go up next time.
The prosecutor said that Thompson then added, “I’m going to get my gun and shoot you” before going into his house, coming back outside and entering a grey car.
Thompson’s sister arrived and he was heard saying to her, “I light that sh*t up and next time it’ll be a house”. He also told her to go inside and get his gun.
‘Custody don’t frighten me’
He tried to leave the scene in his car and hit a fire truck on the way. Officers followed him to the intersection with Hirst Road where they stopped and arrested him.
Thompson was taken to the detention centre and refused to allow officers to process him, telling them instead to search the yard of the victim for evidence of money laundering.
He said to the officers, “I smoke weed and I’m not going to stop – tell the f-ing judge that”, Petit told the court.
The following day officers searched his house but found nothing of note.
Thompson was interviewed under caution and shown the footage of the incident. He answered ‘no comment’ to questions put to him.
Petit explained that after the interview, he told officers, “Just like you warn me, I’m warning you. Prison don’t frighten me. Custody don’t frighten me.”
A social inquiry report from 19 July described Thompson as justifying his actions by saying he was provoked, and the report said he demonstrated a faulty belief system, Petit said.
Meanwhile, a risk needs-assessment tool found the probability of his re-offending was very high.
Petit said Cayman criminal-sentencing guidelines do not cover arson so she referred to the UK guidelines on criminal damage by fire.
She said of three categories of seriousness, the offence falls in category two, which has a nine-month custodial sentence starting point, rising to a year-and-a-half in prison.
Defence attorney Crister Brady said he agreed with the facts of the case and that the neighbours did not share “the best relationship” and they had numerous quarrels.
He said the defendant had expressed remorse, had a drinking problem, has health issues and had not dealt with the grief of losing his father.
Brady also said that Thompson had no intention of causing harm to his neighbour’s house despite threats, and added he should not be sentenced to more than the guideline amount.
Richards will consider the evidence and hand down a sentence on 11 Aug. Thompson was remanded in custody.
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