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A woman lit an incense stick to pray in her home shrine, and ended up accidentally starting a fire that led to her roommate’s death, the High Criminal Court heard.
The Indian woman was charged with manslaughter and unintentionally starting a fire in the apartment. She admitted to being at fault.
In her final moments, the victim had called her flatmates begging for help, and was eventually rescued by the Civil Defence, but died in hospital. An autopsy revealed that she died of smoke inhalation.
“The incense stick remains lit all day and I don’t put it out,” the defendant earlier told the court, describing the shrine as a white, wooden table with the fragrant stick on it, as well as a heap of rice flour.
“My roommates and I perform rituals from our religion, Hinduism, and I send a photo of the shrine to my mum as a habit.
“After I lit it, I went to the living room and sat with my roommates, when the victim called, asking for help.”
A flatmate recounted that the bedroom housing the shrine was on fire. The victim was stuck in the bathroom and we heard her scream: “Fire, fire!”
The women tried to rescue her, but it was impossible to reach her because of the fire and thick smoke.
The building’s security guard recounted hearing the fire alarm on March 30, at 2.20pm, and rushed to the fifth floor to see three women standing outside one of the flats, which was burning.
They told him that there was a woman inside the apartment, so he called emergency services, which put out the fire and took the victim to safety.
Medics tried to save the victim, but it was too late. The coroner concluded that the victim died of carbon monoxide poisoning, and observed evidence of smoke and fire on the corpse. The doctor also ruled out assault as the cause of death, observing that there were no signs of physical violence or recent injuries.
Meanwhile, the defendant testified that she had come to Bahrain in late February, less than five weeks before the incident took place.
The trial was adjourned to July 20 for defence arguments.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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