Failed Gateshead asylum seeker threatened to burn down flat while paramedics were inside
by Sara Nichol · ChronicleLiveA failed asylum seeker took his frustration out on paramedics who were trying to help him when he threatened to burn down his flat and tried to set fire to a duvet.
An ambulance crew had attended Ali Raswli's Gateshead home following concern he may self-harm but were met by him acting aggressively. A court heard that 27-year-old, who had recently been refused asylum in the UK and was going through the appeals process at the time, then took his frustration at the Home Office out on the two medics.
Kurdish Raswli threatened to set the flat on fire then tried but failed to light a duvet, which was on the living room floor. Prosecutors said Raswli then lit pieces of paper, which thankfully didn't take, and dropped them on the floor.
His behaviour prompted the paramedics to fear for their safety and leave the premises and Raswli was arrested after the police were called. However, his behaviour didn't stop there and just three weeks later, on August 19 this year, he made similar threats.
Paul Coulson, prosecuting at Newcastle Magistrates' Court, said Raswli was speaking on the phone to a welfare support officer, who was also trying to help him, when he claimed he'd doused himself and his home, on Maxwell Street, in Saltwell, in kerosene. Mr Coulson added: "When police attended, the defendant was outside his address.
"He was standing with his left hand behind his back and was challenged to show his hands, which he didn't do, so he was detained by police with the use of a Taser. The police noted that, when they entered the defendant's property, there was no smell of fuel or accelerant. The defendant was also wearing dry clothing."
The court heard that Raswli had also been arrested earlier in the month after he claimed to be lying across railway tracks waiting for a train to hit him. He was located near the tracks and detained.
Raswli pleaded guilty to two counts of threatening to damage property endangering life, one of trespass on a railway and one of failing to surrender to custody when he appeared in the dock earlier this month. The case was adjourned until this week for sentence.
Heather Bolton, defending, said: "The offending all relates to problems with his status in this country and also the torture of his family at home. This appears to have massively impacted his mental health."
Giving him a four-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, District Judge Paul Currer said: "These offences have occurred when you have become frustrated by the lack of progress with you application for asylum in this country. You were unhappy your application had been refused and you were having to go through the appeal process.
"It may well be that you find the process frustrating and annoying, but that does not provide you with an excuse to behave in a criminal manner and make criminal threats. Your offending is made more serious because the people you were threatening were people who were trying to help you."
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