Farmer fined BD10,500 for burning rubbish, setting building on fire

Manama : A Bahraini farmer has been left with a bill for BD10,500 after he pleaded guilty to carelessly burning garden waste in open and setting fire to a nearby building.

The farmer’s negligence, the High Civilian Court said, resulted in an outbreak of blazes which stretched to the nearbybuilding, which housed a carpentry shop and a wood store.

The building and the units were completely destroyed in the raging fire, causing heavy monetary losses to the shop owners, who rented the space on a 15-year contract.

“Both shops ceased functioning because of the heavy damages sustained,” the plaintiff’s lawyer Zahra Al Jiser told prosecutors. The lawyer argued that it was the farm owner’s negligence that caused the fire and that he could have done that in a safer and controlled manner if wanted.

Expert technical evaluators found that the plaintiff suffered losses to the tune of BD9150. The plaintiff demanded a compensation of BD10,500, BD500 to pay the attorney’s fees and BD832 to settle the technical expert’s bill.

The Court ordered the farm owner to pay all the fees and expenses associated with this case.

Jail term reduced

In another case, a Bahrain man, jailed eight years for counterfeiting banknotes and possessing ammunition, has had his jail term reduced to six years on appeal.

The High Appeal Court, however, retained the BD1,200 fine handed down to  him and a three-year jail term awarded to his accomplice, a woman. The incidents that led to the man’s arrest occurred when police received a tip-off regarding a woman buying mobile phones using fake Saudi riyals.

Soon, the woman was arrested by a police team who later found that more people were involved in the crime, including a military personnel.

The Bahraini man, who turned out to be the mastermind of the crime, was also instrumental in bringing counterfeit currency to Bahrain from Saudi Arabia.

Police said the racket’s involvement in the case was further confirmed by the man’s son’s friend, who overheard a conversation between then regarding fake currency bills.

“When we were hanging around, his father instructed him to go and meet someone in Hamala. We went there, and he received a bag full of money from him. Next day, I saw the same bag inside his house with a lot of 50 Saudi riyal bills and US dollars,” the friend of the defendant’s son told prosecutors.

The suspect was arrested by the police and also seized ammunition from him. The woman was handed down a three years’ imprisonment, while the military personnel was sent for trial in a militarycourt.