'Foot through roof' sparks Oldbury house fire
A man accidentally dropped his cigarette and set his bed on fire while his family were at home after he thought he saw a foot come through the ceiling, a court heard.
Dalip Kumar had been acting out of character and 'paranoid', Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
His wife and five of their seven children were at their Elizabeth Crescent, Oldbury home on September 14 last year when the fire broke out in the upstairs bedroom.
Miss Cathlyn Orchard, prosecuting, said Kumar's behaviour had been increasingly worrying his family in the lead-up to the fire and he had been making strange comments.
This included a sudden trip to London to visit Parliament to voice his concerns on the Scottish referendum, the court heard.
Kumar's wife Annette told the court how on the morning of the fire she had suggested her husband see a doctor about his behaviour and he agreed. The earliest appointment she could get for him was the following week.
Later that morning, Mrs Kumar got back to the house to find her husband hitting the boiler, installed six weeks prior, with a screwdriver.
Asked what he was doing, Kumar told his wife of 25 years: "This is what is making everybody go funny."
At around 4pm Mrs Kumar started making dinner and saw her husband go upstairs with the nail bucket from the shed.
When he called for one of the older boys, who was not home, she went to the bottom of the stairs and 'just sensed something wasn't right'.
Climbing the stairs, when she got to the top she saw their bedroom door was ajar, and nails had been tipped onto the top of the bed near the pillows.
She said: "He had a lighter in his hand, it was a blue lighter and I saw him put it straight to the bed.
"I asked him 'what are you doing? What on earth have you done?' I stupidly stood there for a second and thought I could put it out but I couldn't, and I just knew I had to get my children out."
Miss Orchard said during interview Kumar told police he had been smoking in the bedroom and accidentally dropped the cigarette on the bed when he 'saw a foot come through the ceiling'.
During cross-examination Mr David Iles, defending Kumar, said despite his 'bizarre' behaviour, Kumar always said he was acting to 'protect the family', and never intentionally tried to harm them or himself.
He said after Kumar, aged 60, was arrested, he was sectioned under the mental health act for three weeks, so it was clear the medical professionals agreed with Mrs Kumar that something was not right with her husband.
Kumar pleaded not guilty to a charge of arson being reckless as to whether life is endangered.
The trial continues.
