Man torched family’s car as they slept
AFAMILY were targeted in a terrifying nighttime arson attack because of an alleged unpaid debt, a court has heard.
Corey Rogers used petrol to torch his victims’ car, which was parked directly outside their home – trapping them inside the property and forcing them to flee through a window. The 22-year-old arsonist said he was told to target the family but he is refusing to reveal the identity of the person who issued the order.
Sending the defendant to prison, a recorder told him that what he had done had been “extraordinarily dangerous” and he could easily have killed the people in the house.
Craig Jones, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that the victims – a couple and their two children – were asleep in their beds in their Swansea Valley home in the early hours of May 10 this year when they were woken by the sound of an “explosion”.
When the mother went to see what was going on, she saw their Nissan car was ablaze. Due to the position of the burning car, the terrified family were unable to get out of the house through the front door and were forced to flee through a window. Firefighters managed to stop the fire spreading.
Mr Jones said as well as extensive damage to the Nissan, the fire damaged the garage door and fascia boards on the house and also caused smoke damage to the inside of the Godre’r Graig property, which necessitated the family moving out and paying for new furniture and redecorating. He said a “conservative” calculation of the cost of the attack to the victims was £50,000.
When Rogers was tracked down and arrested at a house in Swansea, he was found with a petrol can.
He later told police he had been acting under instructions but refused to name the other person.
The court heard the firebombing appeared to be a “revenge” attack prompted by an unpaid debt, though the person who allegedly owed the money did not actually live at the Craig Newydd house.
In a victim impact statement the mother of the family said she had been terrified that the house was going to burn down. She described how her children were “hysterical” during the incident and now suffer from nightmares.
Corey Jay Rogers, of Heol Frank, Penlan, Swansea, admitted arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered. The court heard he has an “extensive criminal history” including misuse of motor vehicles, offences of violence, criminal damage, shoplifting and breaches of restraining orders.
Andrew Evans, for Rogers, said the defendant had experienced a “difficult childhood” and had “identified an older person as a friend who used him as a tool”.
He said the defendant had been 21 at the time of the incident and a presentence report found he was “immature” as well as dealing with alcohol and drug issues.
Recorder Christopher Clee QC told Rogers that going to the house armed with petrol and setting fire to the car had been “extraordinarily dangerous”.
He said the defendant’s actions could have killed everybody in the property and he said it must have been a “harrowing experience” for the family concerned.
With a 20% discount for his guilty plea, the defendant was sentenced to six years in prison. He will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence.