Vítkov arson trial has seen its 12th day
“Tortured suffering” were the words used by expert witness Igor Dvořáček to describe the pain of little Natálie, the infant who suffered extensive burns during the arson attack on a Romani family’s home last April in Vítkov. “The child has been permanently damaged for life and only survived thanks to a combination of various coincidences, primarily the superb medical care she received,” he said. The 11th day of the Vítkov arson trial started with the screening of a video documenting the course and scope of the police effort to investigate the attack last year, including a re-creation of the attack.
In order to simulate the attack, police made use of an abandoned, demolished building similar to the victimized family’s home. They re-glazed two windows and placed a divan beneath one of them to represent the bed on which Natálka had been lying with her parents. The footage of the simulated attack, filmed from inside the building, was shocking. The Molotov cocktails sailed into the house like burning comets. On impact they immediately generated a fiery swath of intense flame and several smaller blazes in the places where the gasoline spattered. “The intensity of the combustion and the speed at which the fire spread through the house surprised us all,” state prosecutor Brigita Bilíková said of the re-creation.
Storage of fuel in the house ruled out
An expert witness on fire prevention, who asked the media not to identify him by name, said the re-creation of the attack – during which the entire floor of the room in question caught fire – was conclusive and credible. He also said it was important to realize that unlike the actual house, the test house did not contain flammable furnishings such as furniture, textiles (curtains, drapes, duvets) or carpets, all of which extended the duration of the actual blaze. Defendants Jaromír Lukeš and David Vaculík refused to comment on the re-creation of the crime, but defendants Václav Cojocaru and Ivo Müller both said too much gasoline had been used in the simulation. “There was less gasoline than that, only half a liter,” Müller said. However, the expert witness said a quarter of a liter less gasoline would not have changed the situation: “The gasoline started the fire and the other flammable materials then caught fire as well. The heat of the flames would be the same no matter how much fuel there was, and that was between 800 and 1 200 degrees Celsius.”
The expert witness said the fire in Vítkov had three starting points. In one room, the flaming gasoline had fallen directly on little Natálie, which is why her burns were so extensive. In the adjacent room, where the Malý couple had been sleeping, two Molotov cocktails had been thrown in, each through a different window. At one of those windows an antenna had evidently functioned as a screen, while at the other the angle and force of the bottle’s trajectory had determined the outcome.
When asked by state prosecutor Bilíková whether a large amount of fuel had been stored in the house, the expert witness ruled out such a possibility. No remains were found of canisters containing any such materials, and even plastic containers would not have been entirely destroyed by the fire.
Permanent damage
The trial continued with the testimony of expert medical witness Igor Dvořáček. “Natálie suffered third and fourth-degree burns. Two of her most severely burned fingers had to be amputated,” Dvořáček said, adding that the flames had attacked the child’s face, neck, torso, arms and legs. In his view it was obvious that she had been closest to the epicenter of the blaze.
“By November 2009 the little girl had undergone 14 operations and had been repeatedly in danger of losing her life at the hospital. There was a risk of sepsis and of liver and kidney failure,” Dvořáček testified, adding that permanent damage was unfortunately certain as plastic surgery would not be able to address all of her scarring. The gradual healing and scarring of her lower limbs has caused her Achilles tendons to shorten, and as a result both standing and walking are now difficult for her. “Right now it is hard to predict how extensive that shortening will be and whether it will be operable in the future,” he said.
At the end of the 11th day of the trial, presiding judge Miloslav Studnička was still considering whether to summon the witness who gave police a key clue used to capture the defendants. The man later refused to testify out of fear for himself and his family. State prosecutor Bilíková told the court that threats have since been made against the witness through telephone calls to a third party, who has filed criminal charges.
Defendant David Vaculík’s attorney asked that the first firefighters who responded to the scene be summoned to testify. Defendant Ivo Muller’s attorney asked that a transcript of the calls on the emergency line to the firefighters’ dispatch be made available. It is not clear what the defense hopes to gain through these requests. Some conjecture they are simply trying to gain time in order to think through how to proceed on behalf of their clients.
The 12th day of the trial was limited to a brief review of the documentary evidence. Starting at 11 AM the court was to decide in closed session on whether to extend the defendants’ time in custody. No surprises are anticipated and they are expected to remain in custody.
