A 42-year-old Bodden Town man who set fire to his neighbour’s car in an afternoon rage has been sentenced to 11 months in prison.
Fernando Lopez Thompson pleaded guilty to arson, and causing harassment, alarm or distress in relation to the incident that took place on Kitty Lane on 3 May.
Justice Cheryll Richards read her sentencing judgment to Grand Court on Friday, 11 Aug., as Thompson watched on by video link from HMP Northward.
She said the court was treating the offences with the “utmost seriousness” with the aim of deterring the defendant from repeating the incident in the future.
The judge said Thompson, who has 31 prior convictions, “must learn to live in peace with his neighbours, and the neighbours with him,” adding: “He must learn to control his temper.”
Fire and threats
On 3 May at about 2.12pm, police were called to a report of a vehicle on fire on Kitty Lane in Bodden Town, according to Richards summary of the evidence. They were told the suspect was Thompson and he may be at the scene.
When they arrived, they found the fire department conducting a “cooling down operation” on a Jeep Wrangler worth $2,500.
They spoke with the car owner who said he had heard his neighbour, Thompson, arrive home, then heard a loud bang. He saw his Jeep was on fire.
The victim checked his video doorbell footage and noticed Thompson had come to his door and rung his doorbell. He had what appeared to be a lighter in his hand.
Officers viewed the video, and saw that at about 1.47pm Thompson walked up to the camera with an object in his hand and was pointing and speaking into the camera.
He appeared agitated but there was no audio.
At about 1.48pm the camera showed him standing at the rear of the Jeep and at 2.07pm the vehicle was ablaze.
While police arrived, Thompson walked towards the vehicle and started cursing at the victim, saying he needed to leave and “return to where he came from”, the judge said.
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 so he could shoot the victim.
He tried to leave the scene in his car but 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.
The defendant was interviewed under caution on 4 May and shown the footage of the incident. He answered ‘no comment’ to questions put to him.
He told officers: “Just like you warn me, I’m warning you. Prison don’t frighten me. Custody don’t frighten me.”
On 9 June, in Grand Court, Thompson pleaded guilty to both offences.
A faulty belief system
The evidence along with mitigating and aggravating factors of the case were presented to Judge Richards for a sentencing hearing in Grand Court on 28 July.
A social inquiry report described the defendant as beginning to get into trouble during his high school years mainly for drug related offences.
He was the victim of a stabbing seven years ago leading to loss of sensation in his leg and limiting his employment opportunities. He is dependent on his mother for financial support.
He told his probation officer that he was heavily under the influence of alcohol when he committed the offences, the judge said. His alcohol use increased since his father’s death.
Thompson told them his neighbours were disrespectful towards him, invaded his privacy and called the police for unnecessary reasons, but that he regretted what he did.
The officer said he demonstrated a faulty belief system that vindicates pro-criminal behaviour, and a risk assessment tool found his risk of re-offending was very high.
His criminal record shows he has a history of 31 previous convictions including for damage to property, threatening violence and assault.
Defence attorney Crister Brady said he agreed with the facts of the case and that the neighbours did not share “the best relationship” and 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.
Justice Richards sentenced Thompson to 11 months for arson and 11 months for causing harassment, alarm or distress, to run concurrently.
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