A man accused of setting fire to another in the parish of Caniçal, in Madeira, in June, admitted the crime in court this Thursday, justifying that he had already consumed “too much” ‘bloom’ and was disoriented.
The defendant, who began his trial this morning at the Judicial Court of the District of Madeira, is accused by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) of the crime of attempted homicide.
According to the indictment, the 31-year-old defendant “acquired a narcotic product” from the victim and, after consumption, he was “displeased with the substance he used to buy.”
According to the MP, the man went to his grandmother’s garage and, armed with a bottle of gasoline, went to meet the victim, who had his back turned, and threw the substance at him, setting it on fire with a lighter.
When the offended party was on the floor and his body was burning, the defendant “tried to put out the fire with his hands”, and was also assisted at the Dr. Nélio Mendonça Hospital, in Funchal.
The victim suffered several injuries and had to receive treatment in the burns unit at Santa Maria Hospital, in Lisbon.
The MP also considers that the “sudden and treacherous way in which he acted” had the “firm purpose of taking the life” of the victim.
“Everything was very confusing that day, I hadn’t slept for several days,” the defendant said in court this Thursday, admitting that he set fire to the man who had sold him the drugs moments before with a lighter.
The defendant still said he was sorry and that he had no intention of killing the victim.
“Under normal circumstances I would never have had the courage to do what I did. I was under the influence of ‘bloom'”, he reinforced, before the panel of judges, chaired by Carla Meneses.
