A foreign worker convicted of trying to set fire to his partner will be imprisoned for only five years

Warning: The article contains harsh descriptions

Today (Wednesday) Kritsdang Srisumbat, a foreign national who is a Thai citizen, was sentenced to only 5 years of actual imprisonment, who was convicted of assaulting and setting fire to his partner. The defendant was also sentenced to 8 months of probation, and payment of compensation of only NIS 7,500.

Srisombat met the victim about a year and a half ago, when they worked together at Moshav Nativ Hatara, where a relationship developed between them. About a year ago, on May 28, 2023, an argument broke out between the couple during the day, after which the victim stopped answering his calls.

According to the charges, in the evening of that day, when the victim was sleeping in her bed, Srisombat broke into her room in a shared house where she lived together with several other foreign workers in Ashkelon. He sat on her bed, poured a flammable substance on the bed and set it on fire, with the intention that they would die together.

Following the arson, the blanket caught fire, the victim cried for help, and her accomplices extinguished the fire. The attack caused burns to the victim’s hand and back. Her hair and eyebrows were burned, and she was burned on part of her face.

According to the charges, about six months before the arson incident, the accused attacked the victim during an argument, pushed her several times, put his hand on her neck and strangled her and knocked her to the floor.

The accused confessed and was convicted in both incidents, and today, as mentioned, he was sentenced in the district court in Beer Sheva. “The defendant expressed remorse for his actions, and his confession spared the complainant from testifying in court and reliving once again the traumatic events she experienced,” commented Judge Alon Gavizon, who handed down the sentence.

“The considerations of the defendant’s deterrence are not among the leading considerations in our eyes, since it is likely that he will be deported from the country after serving his sentence, and the possibility that he will return to a society where crime is small. In this context, I would add that for this reason, I also did not find that the components of the punishment include a fine and an undertaking.”