Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Man ‘started fire at homeless unit’
A MAN has appeared in court accused of deliberately setting fire to his room at a homeless unit before barricading himself inside and smashing a hammer through a door frame when police tried to break in.
Alistair Christie, 30, of no fixed abode, is also accused of sitting on the window ledge of the building with a hammer before re-entering the room and starting another fire.
He appeared in private before Sheriff Linda Smith at Dundee Sheriff Court.
A petition accuses Christie of wilful fireraising, malicious damage and breach of the peace at Room 14, Dundee Survival Group, Foundry Lane, on Saturday.
He is accused of wilfully setting fire to furniture in the room, causing damage and severe smoke damage and causing the unit to be evacuated, while he was on bail.
He is also alleged to have maliciously damaged the room by smashing the door frame of a built-in wardrobe and making holes in the walls with a hammer.
Christie faces another charge of breaching the peace by behaving i n a disorderly manner, barricading himself in the room when there was a fire and refusing to leave when requested to do so by staff.
When police arrived and tried to gain access to the room, Christie allegedly smashed a hammer into the door frame, while repeatedly shouting and swearing at staff, the petition alleges.
He is further accused of climbing out of a window and sitting on a window ledge while in possession of a hammer, smashing a window with the hammer, refusing to desist, re-entering the room, starting a second fire and causing police officers to enter a building that was on fire in order to remove him from the property, all to the fear and alarm of the lieges.
Christie made no plea and was granted bail while the case was continued for further examination.
Emergency services were called to Foundry Lane on Saturday morning following reports of a fire.
A since-deleted Facebook video showed a large crowd gathered outside a cordoned-off area of the street, with a large number of fire appliances and police cars at the scene.