The Provincial Court of Huesca has ratified a sentence that sentenced to pay half a million euros to the parents of four minors who in 2022 set fire to a chalet in the Huesca town of Castiello de Jaca, in the Aragonese Pyrenees. It obliges them to pay jointly and severally for the reconstruction of the building, which was reduced to rubble, the cost of which was set at 555,563 euros.
However, the ruling sentenced the parents to a somewhat lower figure by deducting the 128,795 euros with which the insurance company already compensated the owner of the home, a notary from Zaragoza.
The families presented an appeal against the ruling of a Huesca Court so as not to have to face the aforementioned amounts as direct civil liability. Now, the Court has rejected the appeal and has fully ratified the sentence, which is final and cannot be appealed against.
The four minors who caused the fire, who were between 14 and 17 years old at the time, were convicted of one crime of breaking and entering and another of causing damage due to serious recklessness. Two of them were given twelve months of supervised release; to another six months of socio-educational tasks; and in the fourth twelve months of attendance at a supervised day center.
The events occurred on the night of April 17, 2022 when a group of minors entered a chalet located in the Huesca town of Castiello de Jaca. With the intention of celebrating a party, they took advantage of the fact that the owner, a notary from Zaragoza, was not in the house that Easter, which he had acquired in 2019 and used as a second residence.
They took advantage of the fact that the back door was broken and could be opened from the outside to search the chalet. Once inside, they used a rock to break the cellar door, where they remained for a while smoking and opening several bottles of wine. In fact, they immortalized the moment by recording a video in which the four appeared toasting, images that the Civil Guard later rescued from the mobile phone of one of those investigated and which served as evidence in the trial.
During the oral hearing, the boys acknowledged that they were in the chalet, but claimed that it seemed to them that it was an abandoned building.
The sentence considered it proven that, once they entered the room, they poured gasoline into a glass glass and set it on fire. The violent flame surprised the group of friends, who tried to put it out using tap water. However, the fuel then spilled onto the table, causing it to catch fire immediately.
To try to put out the fire, the young people used the duvet from a bed, which fueled the fire even more, so the frightened minors decided to leave the house, which ended up being caught in the flames.
