Man charged after Dungannon arson attack refused bail

A 21-year-old man charged in connection with an arson attack in Dungannon which saw 12 people treated in hospital has been refused bail.

Miguel Caetanito, of Canal Place, Coalisland, is charged with destroying the semi-detached house in Cunningham’s Lane by fire on February 3 with intent to endanger the lives of the occupants.

A detective told Dungannon Magistrates Court police were notified by NI Fire and Rescue Service of a house with two adults and two children, aged seven and ten, trapped inside.

Officers used ladders to rescue the occupants and when spoken to in the ambulance, the older child said: “The crazy man in the red jumper did it.”

Police noticed a male wearing a red top standing on the roof of a building.

He was arrested and taken to hospital as a precaution during which he commented: “I came out of the fire.”

A short time later he stated: “I’m in a lot of trouble. I need to speak to a solicitor urgently.”

When the child was spoken to again in hospital, she explained she had completed her homework and gone upstairs to her bedroom with her younger sister.

She said the defendant had been in the house downstairs with her uncle and identified him as Caetanito, who was previously a next door neighbour.

Around 8.30pm, she became very warm and on opening a window, immediately smelled smoke and realised there was a fire downstairs.

She ran to close her bedroom door but it was forced open by the blaze.

Caetanito was arrested and during five interviews over two days, replied ‘no comment’ to all questions.

Objecting to bail, the detective said the defendant was ‘known to be fascinated with fire and prior to the incident was involved in setting his father’s home alight’.

“He has a lengthy record including several arsons stretching back to while he was a juvenile and received Youth Conference Orders.”

The court heard he also set fire to the disabled toilet of a Coalisland shop and on another occasion attempted to burn to bins outside the same premises

He served a prison sentence for this and various other offending.

The detective advised: “A risk management meeting was held last week which found significant concerns of serious harm, patterns of fire-setting behaviour and alcohol and drug abuse. There are also other arson incidents under investigation.”

However the defence set out how he had been made aware of a claim that a man had seen a video on his child’s phone showing a male ‘inserting two fireworks through a letterbox, and flashes going off’.

He said: “This evidence is in direct contradiction to the account naming the defendant as the suspect. Concerns have been raised of an acrimonious relationship between the defendant and his girlfriend’s family.”

The detective said the phone in question was seized but no video was on it, nor had anything been deleted.

“I don’t believe there was a video,” he added.

District Judge Francis Rafferty remarked: “This man is a convicted fire-starter with a record for three previous arsons. I place no weight on the alternative angle reportedly seen on a video which doesn’t exist. I cannot be satisfied that bail could be granted.”

Caetanito will appear again by video-link on March 26.