Parents of four teenagers ordered to pay €500,000 compensation to owner of home their kids burned in the Pyrenees

A judge ordered compensation of €557,563 to be paid to the owner of a holiday home in the Pyrenees by the parents of four teenagers who set fire to it.

After a judge made her ruling, a holiday home set on fire in the Pyrenees by four teenagers is going to cost their parents a large sum of money. As reported by Heraldo de Aragón, the judge ordered the kids’ parents to pay compensation of €557,563 to a notary from the city of Zaragoza who owned the property.

At the time of the incident, the four culprits were aged between 14 and 17, Taking advantage of the fact that the owner was not in residence, they entered the empty property through a back door, which was allegedly broken.

Once inside, they broke open the door of the cellar, where they smoked and opened several bottles of wine. This was proved by recordings that the Guardia Civil recovered from the mobile phone of one of those investigated.

Later, in the living room, they poured petrol into a crystal glass and set it on fire, which caused a sudden burst of fire. The group subsequently tried to extinguish the flames in various ways, none of which were successful.

First of all, they used tap water, but the fuel spilt onto the table when the water mixed with it and immediately caught fire. Then they used the duvet from a bed, but all they did was fuel the fire more.

Given this, the teenagers decided to leave the house, which ended up on fire. The perpetrators of the incident admitted before the judge that they were in the house, but claimed that they thought it was abandoned at the time.

This was deemed as an inadmissible argument by the magistrate since the owner bought the house in 2019 and it was in perfect condition.

As the magistrate recalled in her sentencing, the property was located at No13, Calle del Arco de Castiello de Jaca, and the fateful raid occurred at around 10pm on April 17, 2022. 

The damages caused by the fire led the defence to use different arguments to try to reduce the high compensation, all of which were rejected by the judge.

They insinuated the responsibility of the owner for not having taken adequate measures to prevent intruders from sneaking inside after paying out €320,000 to purchase the property in 2019.

The four young people were convicted of a crime of trespassing and another of damages for serious negligence, but the fact that they are underage meant their parents must face the debt.

Two of the offenders will spend twelve months under probation, while another is forced to attend a supervised day centre for the same period. The fourth, who has just come of age, will have to do community work for six months. Their parents, being civilly liable, can appeal the sentence.