The 36-year-old woman who admitted on Wednesday that she had deliberately set fire to her building on October 29 in Essey-lès-Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle) was indicted on Thursday. The object retained, “destruction of the property of others by a means dangerous for people having caused death”, is liable to the assize court, indicated Stéphane Javet, deputy public prosecutor at the Nancy court.
Earlier, he had indicated that the alleged arsonist, “who seems to present certain fragilities”, had admitted Wednesday followingnoon “to have voluntarily set fire to a cardboard box in the outbuildings of the building”. The woman “admitted to having done the same the day before, October 28, 2022”, added the magistrate.
On October 29, a violent fire partially destroyed a six-storey apartment building in Essey-lès-Nancy. The emergency services had been alerted at midday and significant resources, including around sixty firefighters, had been deployed to rescue the inhabitants. A 98-year-old woman, evacuated from her apartment in cardio-respiratory arrest, was declared dead following being taken care of by the SMUR.
Serial fires in the same building
The investigation, carried out by the territorial management of the federal police of Nancy, had very quickly oriented towards the criminal track. The 30-year-old implicated must appear before an examining magistrate on Thursday at the start of the followingnoon with a view to her indictment for “destruction of the property of others by a means dangerous for the persons having caused death”, a qualification subject to the assize court. The prosecution requested that he be remanded in custody.
According to the prosecution, three other fire starts have been observed during the previous eighteen months in this building located in the town of 8,700 inhabitants, east of Nancy.
The prosecution requested her placement in pre-trial detention, but the person concerned asked for a delay to prepare her defence, the debate before the judge of freedoms and detention was therefore set for Monday.