AN EXCAVATOR parked at a construction site on Partizánska Street in Banská Bystrica was set afire by a 16-year-old teenager, apparently drunk, who broke the vehicle’s window with a rock, got inside and then set the seat on fire with a lighter, according to Mária Faltániová, the Banská Bystrica police department’s spokeswoman.
The flames quickly spread so the boy jumped out of the excavator but the fire destroyed the vehicle’s entire cab as well as some of the hydraulic hoses on the boom, with damage amounting to €43,700.
As the boy had no previous criminal record he was released from custody after testifying. The punishment for such a crime can be from three to eight years in jail but since he is minor, the sentence can be cut in half, the SITA newswire reported.
