An unemployed man, aged 30, was found guilty of arson yesterday and sentenced to 10 months in jail after setting a paper towel on fire at CityU in March.
The tissue arsonist, surnamed Tang, is in fact a repeat offender, reports Apple Daily.
Three years ago, the pyromaniac set fire to nine cars within the span of a year and was sentenced to four years in prison.
He claimed that he was venting his anger about his overly attached then-girlfriend, who apparently monitored every second of his life and had established “six relationship laws”.
After his early release, however, Tang relapsed into his old habit, apparently frustrated about his current state of unemployment.
He was lighting a paper towel on fire in a back stairwell on the university campus when a plainclothes police officer caught him red-handed and arrested him.
A psychiatrist concluded that Tang has borderline personality disorder, which is a serious mental illness “marked by unstable moods, behavior, and relationships”, according to the US National Institute of Mental Health.
The judge conceded that igniting a paper towel may not be a significant fire hazard, but he maintained that he was still a threat to the public and therefore should be put in prison.
Photo: Julian Bravo via Flickr
