A deranged divorcée, who was last year acquitted of arson charges because a court heard that she suffered from psychosis, is once again standing trial for starting a fire.
The 39-year-old Bahraini was also accused of breaking the windshield of her neighbour’s Ford Mustang, and for cursing at another neighbour who questioned her about the small blaze that broke out in their social housing apartment building.
The High Criminal Court heard that a Coastguard officer, to whom the yellow Mustang belonged, claimed that the defendant wrote her name in the dust that settled on the car after smashing in the glass.
Five other people, who live in the Housing Ministry building, have testified to seeing the defendant acting strange, spewing profanities or holding a lighter.
Last year, the GDN reported that judges dismissed a case in which the defendant was accused of partially burning a room in her parents’ house, after a panel of psychiatrists diagnosed her with psychosis and stated that she could not be held responsible for her actions.
A new psychiatric evaluation, ordered specifically for this case, declared her fit to stand trial, dismissing an insanity plea.
The report read that the woman behaved erratically due to narcotics and suffered a fit of psychosis caused by misuse of amphetamines.
The woman has a criminal record that goes back to the mid-2000s, and had a few years ago given birth to a baby out of wedlock, which was reportedly ‘taken away’ from her.
Following the baby’s removal from the defendant, the court heard, she appeared to have plunged into a deep depression, and previously threatened to throw herself off a building.
Among the woman’s fellow apartment building residents is a 54-year-old Bahraini woman, who was woken up at 5.45am by a call from her neighbour, who urged her to leave the apartment.
“I discovered that there was a fire in front of my door,” the witness stated. “It was put out by one of our neighbours, who informed me that the defendant was the one behind it.”
She added that when she spotted the woman, she asked her why she started the fire, and she allegedly responded: “I will kick you and break your face,” and also hurled a vulgar phrase at her while she was being held back by bystanders.
Another fellow resident, a policeman, testified that the defendant approached him earlier in the day and asked if he had a lighter, and he said no.
He claimed in Public Prosecution hearings that the woman admitted: “I just broke the windshield of the yellow Mustang and now I’ll go to the fifth floor and burn it.”
A custodian employed by the Housing Ministry, a 48-year-old Bangladeshi, testified that he heard the elevator’s emergency alarm, then saw her leaving the lift with a lighter and a cigarette in hand.
Court documents state that security footage revealed that the woman was on the fifth floor when the incident occurred. A Civil Defence forensic report also stated that the fire was man-made.
Last year, the GDN reported on a trial in which the accused woman was convicted in absentia of intentionally burning a few blankets in her parents’ house in Jid Ali. She was sentenced to a year behind bars and convinced judges to overturn the ruling after she appeared at court to defend herself.
She had claimed that what happened was unintentional, and that small embers from her incense holder fell onto a tissue box, which caught fire and the flames spread to other objects in the room.
“My family are all against me – they do not want me to take care of my baby who I gave birth to recently,” she earlier testified. “They took her away from me and I want her back.”
The trial continues.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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