Man accused of starting Dungannon house fire said ‘I’m in a lot of trouble’, court hears
A man charged with starting a house fire that led to police rescuing four people from the blaze allegedly remarked afterwards that he was in “a lot of trouble”, a court has heard.
Miguel Caetanito, 21, from Canal Place, Coalisland, Co Tyrone, is charged with arson with intent to endanger the lives of the four people in relation to the incident in the Cunninghams Lane area of Dungannon on Monday night.
He appeared via video link before Strabane Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.
The accused made no bail application and he was remanded into custody by district judge Oonagh Mullan to appear before a court again on February 26.
A 70-year-old woman, a 37-year-old man and two children, aged seven and 10, are being treated in hospital after being rescued from the fire by police.
Eight police officers were also taken to hospital for smoke inhalation but have since been released.
The accused, appearing via video link from a police station in Dungannon, spoke briefly at the outset of the hearing to confirm he could see and hear the court and also that he understood the four charges facing him.
A PSNI detective sergeant told Judge Mullan he could connect Caetanito to the charges.
He told the court that the injured woman and two children, both girls, rescued from the house were all now in a stable condition in hospital while the man remained in intensive care under sedation.
The officer said that after the older girl was rescued she told police that the “crazy man in the red jumper did it”.
The detective sergeant said officers had found an intoxicated Caetanito on the roof of the burning house wearing a red top.
He said the 10-year-old girl later told investigating police that the accused had been downstairs in the house on his own when the fire started.
The child said he then ran upstairs and tried to alert them to the blaze and to attempt to get everyone out a back window.
The detective said while the accused answered no police questions during five interviews in custody, he did offer an unsolicited remark while receiving treatment in hospital in the hours after the attack, allegedly stating “I’m in a lot of trouble. I need to speak to a solicitor urgently”.
The officer said on his initial arrest Caetanito also allegedly told officers at the scene that “I came out of the fire”.
He added: “During all interviews, the defendant replied no comment to all questions put to him.
“He was given opportunity to explain his presence at the scene and his whereabouts, and he did not take that opportunity.”
Solicitor Ronan McCourt, representing Caetanito, challenged the evidential basis upon which police were relying to connect his client to the alleged offences.
He asked whether the fire could have been started accidentally.
The officer said while the investigation into the cause of the fire was ongoing, the advice offered to police by Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service experts was that it was malicious in nature.
The solicitor insisted the child who claimed his client caused the fire had not actually seen the blaze start.
He insisted there was therefore “insufficient evidence” to connect Caetanito to the charges.
“There’s no evidence that’s been put before the court to say that, in fact, a crime has even taken place and, if a crime has taken place, what connects this defendant, rather than any other occupant of the house to the commission of that crime,” he said.
“How can they (police) identify the defendant other than the comments of someone who hasn’t witnessed the commissioning of the offence?”
The district judge said she was satisfied police had connected the accused to the charges.
Judge Mullan said she had taken account of his failure to offer any explanation to interviewing officers.
“If it was an accidental fire that had started, then he would have given a reason for what had happened,” she said.
“So there appears to be no reason that has been put forward how the fire started downstairs, bar the fact the defendant was in the area downstairs.”
Caetanito will appear before Dungannon Magistrates’ Court on February 26.
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12:316 Feb 2025134 words
A 21-year-old man has been remanded in custody charged over a fire in Co Tyrone which led to police officers rescuing two adults and two children