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That's arson, a criminal offense, but today, police told us that they may not be able to bring criminal charges. Here's how they explained why:

ASP Alejandro Cowo - OC, CIB Belize City
"On Friday, the 21st of December, 2018, at about 9:30 a.m., police visited #6701 Cleghorn Street, the scene of a fire. Upon arrival, police observed a wooden structure, 2 storey, where they observed that the upper flat of the building was on fire. Fire personnel arrived at the location, where the fire as extinguished, and thereafter in an inspection of the building, it was noted that contents from inside the upper flat and lower flat were damaged. The upper flat was due to the fire, and the lower flat was because of water damage. Portions of inside the house was also damaged due to the fire. The estimated value of the damages is $15,000 Belize currency. What information we gathered is that the room where the fire began, it was being rented by a male person. When we interviewed the owner of the house, apparently, the tenant was suffering from some sort of mental disorder, and he was claiming that he was afraid that someone was coming to attack him. He had locked up himself inside of the house, and he ended up lighting some of the clothes that they had inside of the building for him to escape from the building. The person was detained. He was in police custody; he was questioned, and thereafter, he was released from police custody. It's a matter that police investigating as the owner of the house, they do not request any court action into the matter."

Daniel Ortiz
"So, since the owners of the house aren't pursuing action, does that mean that police leave the matter alone, in terms of the criminal aspects of this case?"

ASP Alejandro Cowo
"Well, remember, we need a complainant before police charges anybody."