Two young men found guilty of stealing and setting fire to two fire engines in Montbrison (Loire) at the end of December were sentenced on Friday evening to 15 months and 18 months’ imprisonment without parole by the Saint-Étienne Criminal Court.
They were also found guilty of attempting, during the same night of 29–30 December, to steal a car belonging to a local woman, who managed to escape from them.
The prosecution had sought prison sentences of three and five years, to be served without parole, for the two men, aged 22 and 27, who remained in custody following the trial. Their criminal records already included 16 and 11 previous convictions.
Their lawyers argued for “treatment measures” rather than imprisonment, pointing out that the defendants were heavily intoxicated at the time of the incident: the theft of two 4x4s from a fire station in the Loire, from which the firefighters had just set out on an emergency call.