Family home petrol-bombed in student feud
A FAMILY lost everything in a devastating petrol bomb attack committed in revenge following a petty feud between college students.
The Azeta family home in Moston was gutted after the bomb was thrown through a living room window. It exploded into flames and a mum was ‘lucky to escape with her life’ after it ignited near her.
Davide Imuetinyan, 20, and Benjamin Ankers, 18, have been jailed for arson following the catastrophic fire at the terrace house on Bordale Avenue, which cost £27,000 to repair.
The family had to move out of their home, while their children had to change schools.
A ‘grudge’ had developed between Imuetinyan and Elvis Azeta, after they had a fight at a party.
Mr Azeta was not in the house at the time of the arson attack but his family were.
His father was in bed, but he as well as Mr Azeta’s two siblings and mother were able to escape. For a short time Susan Azeta didn’t know whether her husband or her 15-year-old daughter who were upstairs had got out, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Her 11-year-old son’s birthday was a few days after the fire, and as well as their other possessions his presents were destroyed.
“Myself and my family have struggled to live since this incident,” Mrs Azeta said in a statement a year after the blaze. Everything we owned was destroyed in the fire.”
Judge Hilary Manley told the two defendants: “You acted together and perpetrated a wicked and calculated revenge attack on the home of a family who had done neither of you any wrong.
“You could both so easily have been facing charges of murder.”
Imuetinyan and Elvis Azeta had both been students at Openshaw College, and in the summer of 2019 they had a fight at a party.
The brawl was filmed on a mobile phone by another young man at the party, and after telling him to put the phone away, Elvis Azeta punched him. This young man’s older brother, named in court as ‘Renzo,’ then began making threats to Elvis, the court heard.
Imuetinyan had smashed the living room at the house a month prior to the fire, on September 5, 2019. He had never met Ankers before the night of the blaze, and Ankers was offered money to take part.
They went to a petrol station and walked to the family home.
Ankers admitted arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered, while Imuetinyan was found guilty of the same offence.
Imuetinyan was jailed for six years and Ankers was sentenced to three years.
Ankers received a lower sentence due to his age, as he was 16 at the time, and because he was entitled to credit for his guilty plea.
Imuetinyan, of Hinde Street, Moston, and Ankers, of Moorcroft Road, Wythenshawe, will both serve half of their sentence in custody.