Arsonists torch apartment, kill neighbor by mistake

A Jerusalem woman who died in a fire in her apartment building was the unintended victim of an arson attack on her neighbor, who was targeted because of an argument over money, according to details of the case that were released for publication on Monday.

Orit London, 24, succumbed to her wounds last Friday at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, where she had been hospitalized for over a week.

Police arrested three suspects in the case, Ahmad Shweq and Samih Rajabi, both from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Kfar Akeb, as well as a Jewish woman, Shweq’s girlfriend, whose name was not released for publication.

Last month Rajabi, Shweq and the unnamed woman arrived at the building on Batsrawi Betsalel Street in the Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood in the capital with the intention of setting fire to the apartment of a woman and her partner, with whom they had a financial dispute.

According to police, two of the suspects broke into the apartment, part of a three-story villa that had been divided into several units, and stole clothes and perfume before setting it ablaze.

However, London, who lived in another apartment on the top floor with her husband, was trapped inside and suffered serious injuries before firefighters were able to break into the building.

Although the two prime suspects claimed they had checked that no one was in before starting the fire, they are facing murder charges.

Firefighter Moshe Elazari, head of arson investigations in the Jerusalem district, said it quickly became clear that it was a case of arson, the Hebrew new site Walla reported.

“A check of the pattern of the fire found that the fire and smoke spread from the room to the top floor and gathered there in a massive amount,” he said and noted that the haphazard division of a large building into smaller apartments created a dangerous fire risk.

“As a result of the fact that the building was changed from its intended use and a number of apartments were added without proper windows, the release of smoke and heat did not happen as predicted, and the firefighters who arrived at the scene needed to break windows and walls in the building to quickly release the smoke and heat,” Elazari explained.

The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court remanded Shweq and Rajabi in custody until next Sunday, while the female suspect was to be held until Thursday.