Young man in preventive detention on suspicion of setting fire to a school in Vila Real – Portugal

A 19-year-old young man was placed in preventive detention after being detained on suspicion of crimes such as fire, explosions, theft and qualified damage at a school in Vila Real, the Porto District Attorney General’s Office reported this Monday.

The Vila Real Judicial Police announced on Thursday the arrest of a 19-year-old young man on suspicion of setting a fire on April 27 at Escola Básica 2/3 Diogo Cão, stating that the defendant entered the school and, ” for futile reasons”, set fire to pavilion 4.

According to the police force, the fire, which was “promptly fought and extinguished” by the Cruz Verde Fire Department of Vila Real, endangered the entire structure of that building, consisting of seven classrooms, a physical-chemistry laboratory, a collection of teaching materials and two administrative offices.

The young man was present at his first judicial interrogation and, according to the Porto District Attorney General’s Office, in information published this Monday on its official website, the Vila Real Court considered the practice, by the defendant, of a crime of fire, explosions and other especially dangerous conduct, a crime of qualified theft and a crime of qualified damage.

“Considering the dangers of escape, continuation of criminal activity and serious disruption of public order and tranquility, the Court decreed the application of the coercion measure of preventive detention to the defendant”, the note reads.