How to evict a tenant? Burn the house down

DOHA • A criminal court here has sentenced a national to a year in jail for putting a house he owned on fire to oust tenants.

The house near Madinat Khalifa was rented out to a company which was using it as a labour camp. The convict had been asking the company to vacate the premises but the latter refused to oblige. Interestingly, the convict was just out of prison having served a three-year term for drug peddling.

The man was so upset with the refusal of the company to vacate the house that he decided to take the law into his hands. It was winter and one day early in the morning, he drove to the place breaking the main gate of the compound of the house open. He later broke into the house, shattering glass panes of some windows.

The labourers were fast asleep inside since it was 2am. They were, however, woken up by the loud noise, but before they could realize what was happening, the intruder put some blankets lying around in an inside room on fire. He then began quarreling with the workers. They panicked and called in the police. A police party soon arrived on the scene and prevented the man from causing further damage to the property. He was taken into custody and his car, which was lying outside having been deliberately run into the main gate, was seized by the cops as a piece of evidence.

During interrogation, the desperate property owner told the police he was just out of jail having served a three-year sentence for drug peddling. "This house belongs to me. It is rented out to a company which is using it as a labour lodging. I asked the company to vacate it but its officials refused," he said.

He, however, confessed to having intruded into the house and caused severe damage. The court headed by Judge Salah Al Sharif took a serious note of the offence and sentenced him to a year in jail.

Source ::: The Peninsula

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