Łódź. Indictment against 33-year-old who set a man on fire at a bus stop

The incident took place on the night of March 19-20. at a bus stop on Pomorska Street in Łódź. A 33-year-old man set fire to a man three years older than him sitting on a bench.

He was arrested a few hours later on Wyszyńskiego Street in Łódź, he was drunk – he had almost 1.7 per mille of alcohol in his system. Two days later, in the District Prosecutor's Office Łódź-Śródmieście, he was charged with murder with particular cruelty. He pleaded not guilty.

The spokesman for the Łódź prosecutor's office informed tvn24.pl that the investigation in this case has ended and an indictment against the 33-year-old has been filed with the District Court in Łódź. He also provided new facts in the case of the tragic event. It is also known that the accused is sane.

– The conducted forensic psychiatric tests did not provide grounds to question his sanity. The man may be held criminally liable and is accused of murder with particular cruelty – informed prosecutor Krzysztof Kopania. – We have the final results of the autopsy of the injured party, they clearly indicate that the man died as a result of high temperature and fire and the post-traumatic shock caused by them – he added.

The spokesman for the Łódź District Prosecutor's Office said that the evidence gathered in the case shows that the injured party sat on a bench at a bus stop on Pomorska Street that fateful evening. The accused appeared there after about 20 minutes. – Initially, he hit the injured party in the head, took off his hat and threw him on the concrete. Then he moved away several times, grabbed, pushed and hit the man sitting at the bus stop. We know that the injured party was alive – this is indicated by the monitoring records, which show him lifting his head – the prosecutor reported. He added that within a dozen or so minutes, the accused man used a lighter about 29 times to “successfully” set his victim on fire. – Initially, he tried to set fire to his torso, then his head. When the entire body was already burning, including the bus shelter, the perpetrator watched the entire situation, even after the emergency services arrived – described the spokesman for the Łódź Prosecutor's Office.

The 33-year-old faces up to life imprisonment.

SEE ALSO: A man burned to death at a bus stop. This is how the arson happened

For some time after the tragedy, investigators did not know who the man who set himself on fire was. There was a breakthrough in the case, because a woman reported to one of the police stations that it was her son, and she supposedly recognized him by his shoes.

– I can confirm that a woman reported to the police, who based on media reports stated that the victim was her 36-year-old son. Initially, this identity was confirmed. The woman recognized her son by his shoes, because they were not particularly damaged, and by his characteristic posture – a hunched figure – Krzysztof Kopania reported at the end of March. He added that she had almost daily telephone contact with her son. The last time she spoke to him was a few hours before the tragedy. Since then, she has not had any contact with her son. To be certain, the prosecutor's office ordered DNA tests of the woman and the deceased.

In late April, investigators received DNA results that confirmed the relationship between the woman and the victim.

– Today we can say with full certainty that it was her son who died in tragic circumstances as a result of arson – informed on April 23, Krzysztof Kopania, spokesman for the Łódź District Prosecutor's Office.