Spanish fisherman fined over fire at Scrabster tapas restaurant
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A disgruntled Spanish fisherman who set fire to a Caithness restaurant after he was thrown out of a party has been fined £2500.
Wick Sheriff Court heard on Tuesday that the incident happened while chief engineer Ivan Gonzalez's boat, Ayr Dawn, was in port at Scrabster on August 21, last year.
The owner of the Capilla Tapas Restaurant was holding a party for his staff. Around 9.30pm Gonzalez arrived with four mates.
Although it was a private function, the owner wanted to be friendly and invited them in for a drink.
Fiscal David Barclay said that during the eventing Gonzalez was asked to leave. His four mates were allowed to remain at the party.
Around 10.50pm, the fire alarm was sounded and those present were alerted to a fire in the patio area.
Mr Barclay continued: "The owner was able to extinguish the flames with a glass of water and a fire extinguisher."
Police checked CCTV footage and noted that Gonzalez, who was under the influence of alcohol, had returned to the patio area.
Mr Barclay went on: "He appeared to pour something on an area next to the patio heater and it burst into flames, reaching three to four feet in height. The accused then left the premises."
Officers arrested Gonzalez for wilful fireraising and he taken to Wick police station.
The patio area was examined in daylight and burn marks were seen around the stone floor underneath the patio heater. There were further soot marks within the casing of the heater and on the rubber hose between the gas cannister and the heater housing. On the wall above was a wooden picture frame displaying burn marks.
Dried puddles of what was believed to be an accelerant were also observed.
Searches by the police led them to a nearby wheelie bin where they recoverd a tin of paint stripper. The label was written in Spanish and was marked as inflammable.
Sheriff Mark Lindsay, who saw a background report, anticipated solicitor Fiona Macdonald's mitigation.
The sheriff said that the report indicated that Gonsalez's actions were out of character and that he was very remorseful after he sobered up and was "appalled" at what he had done.
Sheriff Lindsay said that had such an offence occurred 10 years ago a custodial sentence would have been inevitable. But since then, there had been a different approach to such offences.
The sheriff said that the interests of justice would be served by a substantial fine imposed on Gonzalez, who admitted a charge of wilful fireraising on indictment.
His address was given as care of Miss Macdonald's law firm in Thurso, but the court was told that his home address was in Spain.
