A shop assistant was praised for his bravery after a man deliberately poured fuel on a petrol station forecourt and set it on fire.
Diouff Venicius was working at the Shell garage on Derby Road, Bootle, when at around 10.30pm on September 3, 2021, Adam Bacha, 30, demanded money from the till. Liverpool Crown Court heard on Monday, March 21, that Bacha told the shop assistant he would set a petrol pump on fire if he didn't comply.
Suzanne Payne, prosecuting, said Bacha went to the garage one hour earlier and bought food, but later returned it. She said: "He came to the night services window and demanded all the money from the till or he would set fire to a petrol pump.
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"The assistant Mr Venicius, did not believe him and ignored him. Bacha walked to a pump, poured petrol from it on the floor and ignited it.”
A motorist at the next pump saw what had happened and when Bacha walked off towards Junction Road he followed him in the car and kept the police call handler up speed where he was. When he caught up with him by Screwfix, 30-year-old Bacha approached him and asked for a lighter and he told him to wait as the police were on their way.
Ms Payne said: "He was arrested and en route to the custody suite he said he wanted to go back to prison, ‘college won’t take me, I need somewhere to get an education."
Mr Vinicius, armed with a fire extinguisher, ran onto the forecourt and doused the flames before it got out of hand. A judge said if the store assistant had not gone outside “who knows what the consequences might have been.”
The court heard Mr Vinicius thought later about what might have happened and imagined different outcomes and considered the fact he could have been killed. The car driver said he suffers from post traumatic stress disorder and seeing the defendant squatting down and setting fire to the petrol he froze and was terrified.
Bacha, of Fleetwood Road, Southport, pleaded guilty to arson being reckless whether life was endangered and attempted robbery. The court heard that he has five previous convictions for 20 offences mainly for criminal damage.
Charlotte Kenny, defending, said that the actions of Bacha, who appeared via video link from Rowan View psychiatric unit at Maghull, "had been influenced by his long term paranoid schizophrenia which is resistant to treatment."
She added: “He needs a hospital order which does not need restrictions because the public can be protected by conditional release.”
A psychiatrist told the court that rather than being discharged from hospital to prison the defendant would benefit more by being discharged into the community. After also hearing that a bed is available for Bacha at Rowan View, Judge Anil Murray made a hospital order.
He went on to suggest that Mr Vinicius should be considered for a commendation from the High Sheriff for his actions and awarded a £250 reward from the High Sheriff’s fund.
