"Do you want a fire in here?!"

Friday 07 February 2020

A French waiter turned arsonist has been sent to prison for trying to burn Tiff's takeaway down because he thought it had given him food poisoning.

But the Judge presiding over the case was taken-aback when Yoann Paret said he wasn't trying to make the fire spread to the building by pushing the bin against the doors, but was trying to put it somewhere where it would "get less oxygen".

The 35-year-old who only moved to Guernsey in December was sent to Les Nicolles for nine months after his Magistrate's Court appearance yesterday, and was also recommended for deportation upon his release. 

He was facing not only the arson charge, but also charges of criminal damage, threatening someone, and damaging a police cell.

Pictured: Allegedly, Paret got food poisoning from Tiff's, and they didn't treat him seriously when he tried to raise a complaint with them. 

It was on Friday 3 January when Paret was first arrested. He had gone to Tiff's to complain the day before, because on Christmas Eve, he had come down with food poisoning, which he was blaming on the takeaway. As a professional waiter himself, he knew that these things happened, but still wanted an apology. However he said he was instead treated rudely and ignored. 

Because of how he was treated, when Paret was out drinking on the Friday evening, he decided to go back to Tiff's and confront whoever was there. He started a row with the person manning the till, and asked him if "he wants a fire in here". That staff member then pushed Paret over, and the owner of the takeaway came, called Guernsey Police, and took Paret outside. 

Police arrived and arrested Paret, and put him in a cell to wait until he had sobered up before interviewing him. 

Pictured: Paret trashed his cell after he woke up. He later claimed he didn't know why he had been arrested, because he was so drunk the night before. 

It was around 07:00 on the Saturday when Paret woke up, and he started to kick the cell door. He started filling a cup up with water, and spitting it over the floor. Then, he started throwing wet toilet paper at the CCTV camera, before taking the blue blanket on the prison bed, and tearing it to pieces with his teeth.

After this outburst, Paret was interviewed by officers. He told them about the food poisoning and he had wanted an apology. He apologised for both his actions at Tiff's the night before, and his actions in the cell.

But early in the hours of the following morning - the Sunday morning after the Saturday Paret had been bailed on - he returned to Tiff's, this time with a lighter in hand. CCTV on the North Plantation showed him standing by two wheelie bins near the front door of the takeaway: in one, he started a fire, and then shoved it up against the door of the building. He picked the other one up and used it as a battering ram to try and knock the front door down. He also threw rubbish at the doors, but was stopped before he could break them down by the arrival of police officers. 

This time in interview, Paret told officers he wasn't that drunk, and remember what he did. He again said that he had been disrespected by Tiff's, and didn't regret what he had done. 

Pictured: Judge Robey was taken aback by Paret's explanation for why he pushed the fire up against the door. 

Advocate Candice Fletcher told Judge Philip Robey her client had not been trying to burn Tiff's down, but just wanted the fire to burn outside. When he pressed her on this, she said Paret had told her he had pushed the bin against the door to try and starve it of oxygen, not to burn the doors down. 

Judge Robey said: "pushing the bin up against the door could only have been to damage the building, any other explanation is ludicrous. What you would have done if you had been successful in breaking the windows is open to conjecture."

He described the offences as malicious and said only an immediate prison sentence was suitable.

In total, Paret was given nine months in prison, dated back to his first Court appearance on the 6 January. He was also recommended for deportation, which will be decided by the Lieutenant-Governor. 

Pictured top: Paret lit a fire in a wheelie bin, and pushed it against the locked doors of Tiff's.