A ‘tragedy’ was narrowly avoided after a student set fire to a bed in a city massage parlour, a court was told.
Salah Al-Sabah, 33, has been jailed after admitting reckless arson.
Prosecuting barrister Michael Jones told Cardiff Crown Court Al-Sabah’s studies in Wales are being funded by his employers in Qatar.
Mr Jones said Al-Sabah was a “disgruntled customer” at 1st Choice Massage in Whitchurch Road, Cardiff .
Witnesses said there were 10 people on the premises at the time a small fire was discovered.
“It could have been very serious indeed,” Mr Jones told the court.
“It was only very prompt action of some of the staff that stopped what could have been a tragedy,” he said.
'He has no memory of it'
Al-Sabah, from Gordon Road, Cardiff, studies at the University of South Wales.
But the court was told he had no memory of the incident and still found it “difficult to accept” that it must have been his lighter which set fire to the bed.
He believed it could have been caused by the stubbing out of a cigarette but the court was told he “accepted what the prosecution says although he has no memory of it”.
He was described as an “educated and intelligent” man who had “brought disrespect” on his employers and on his country by an “act of stupidity”.
Sentencing him, Judge Phillip Richards, ordered him to pay £336 compensation for the damage to the bed.
The judge said: “This was unexplained stupidity on your part and mercifully the damage was far less than could have been caused.
“You have pleaded guilty to the reckless endangerment of life – such acts being rightly regarded as serious, even if there was no intention, as I am satisfied is the case here, to put lives in danger.
“It is an act which rightly has to be punished [with a prison term] to reduce the number of such acts committed.”
'I hope you have learned a bitter lesson'
He said Al-Sabah had admitted his fault and “been dignified” in his response to the situation in which he found himself .
“I appreciate the enormous consequences to you both as regards your reputation at home and the reputation of your family,” he told him.
The judge told the student he would serve half his 40-month sentence behind bars and likely then be deported back to Qatar, and added: “I very much hope you will be able to recover from the effects of the sentence and that others will recognise the fact you have behaved impeccably since being given legal advice.
“I make no recommendation for deportation but I anticipate it will be the consequence of the sentence I have been obliged to pass.
For full story see - http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/student-set-fire-bed-cardiff-10348756
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