Man arrested in Catania for setting fire to wife's house after threatening her

He set fire to his wife's home after repeatedly threatening and abusing her, to the point that she fled out of fear. The man, a 32-year-old from Mauritius, was arrested for arson and charged with domestic violence.

Police responded to a home in the Picanello neighborhood of Catania following a call for help from a woman who had taken refuge at a friend's house because her husband had repeatedly insulted her via WhatsApp messages and threatened to set their home on fire. The frightened victim immediately called the police and, at the same time, her neighbor to warn her of her husband's intentions. After a few minutes, the neighbor noticed that the ground-floor apartment was on fire. The police rushed to the home and stopped the 32-year-old man who was trying to flee, still holding the lighter, before evacuating the other residents of the building and securing them. Thanks to the firefighters' timely intervention, the flames were extinguished and a tragic outcome averted for the other apartments, which were not damaged.

The police subsequently received a complaint from the woman, who described the numerous assaults she had suffered over the course of her four-year relationship with the man, both physical and verbal, often caused by his altered state due to alcohol consumption. The man was arrested for arson and, at the prosecutor's order, taken to the Piazza Lanza prison in Catania. Based on the woman's account, the so-called "red code" procedure was activated, and the man was charged with domestic violence.