A woman allegedly set fire to her bed, triggering the evacuation of an apartment building in Juffair, after claiming a voice in her head told her to do so.
The 27-year-old Pakistani, who does not hold a valid work visa, has been charged with starting a fire in an inhabited property and endangering lives.
The incident reportedly occurred in January, when she is alleged to have used a lighter and a piece of clothing to ignite the blaze before pouring oil around the flat to intensify it, causing property damage estimated at BD2,400.
Her lawyer told the court that the defendant had been hearing voices, which led her to believe the bed was possessed and needed to be destroyed with fire.
“My client had no criminal intent,” the lawyer said in a defence memo. “She was not in control of her actions.
“She did not mean to vandalise or destroy, she was acting on a delusion that overcame her, and she thought she was getting rid of the thing that was harming her.
“She imagines that there is an entity telling her to do certain things, that makes her behave in strange and deviant ways. That is proof that she has a psychological condition that took away her sense of reason.”
The lawyer added that the defendant was also drunk at the time of the incident, and referenced her criminal record, in which she was previously accused of consuming drugs.
“The defendant has a history of using methamphetamine, which causes hallucinations and psychosis and that puts the user in a state of utter delusion.
“Her actions were to fight an imagined devil in her bed, and she did not commit them with the intention to damage the building and disturb her neighbours.”
The attorney asked for a new psychological evaluation to be conducted, since the one she underwent found that she could be held responsible for her actions, and that she is fit to stand trial.
“Would a normal girl start a fire because voices in her head told her to?,” the lawyer asked the court.
Judges heard the testimony of a Bahraini security guard, who received a phone call from the building’s reception that there was a fire in one of the units.
He recalled seeing smoke billowing from the floor of the flat and alerted authorities.
The Pakistani woman previously admitted to the charges, stating she started the fire and left the flat.
On January 22, the GDN reported that Civil Defence personnel evacuated residents from a multi-storey building and extinguished a fire that broke out in one of the apartments. No injuries were reported.
Judges have set May 12 as the date to issue a verdict in the case.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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