Abandoned lover guilty of fire attack

A MAN whose fiancee abandoned him for her former boyfriend was jailed for six years by the District Court yesterday for setting fire to the boyfriend's home.

Yu Chun-man, 26, was found guilty of arson.

He denied having set fire to a Lei Muk Shue flat in Kwai Chung on September 5 last year with intent to endanger the lives of Lau King-fan and her boyfriend, Yiu Hing-cheung, his younger brother, Yiu Hing-cheong, and girlfriend Cheung Yee-wan and his aunt, Yiu Kwan.

In sentencing, Deputy Judge Duggan said three of the five victims in this case suffered smoke inhalation as a result of the fire.

He accepted that Yu had committed the offence because he had suffered from injuries in an accident and his fiancee had broken off the engagement.

He said that although it was easy to sympathise with Yu's acute misfortune, the court must also take into account that the offence was committed with premeditation.