Lighters of unknown origin, flickering words of a family...... The fire case is full of suspicions

The suspect in the fire case, Chen Moulian

Confessed that he borrowed a lighter from someone else to light the fire

But the three people who traveled with him couldn't say clearly

What is the ignition tool and where did it come from?

The prosecutor came to the scene of the crime to conduct an on-the-spot investigation

It was found that there were doubts in the case

……

The daughter caught fire to the mountain, and the mother "took the blame" for it, and in the end, both of them were convicted. Recently, after the Pingtang County Procuratorate of Guizhou Province initiated a public prosecution, the court sentenced the defendant Luo Mourou to one year and two months in prison for the crime of arson, and sentenced him to one year in prison for the crime of obstructing testimony, and sentenced him to two years in prison for several crimes; Defendant Luo Mourou's mother, Chen Mourou, was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment for the crime of harboring. The two did not appeal the verdict after it was handed down, and the verdict is now in effect.

The daughter caught fire and burned the mountain

Mother helps him "take the blame"

On February 11 this year, on the second day of the Lunar New Year, Chen Moulian and his daughter Luo Mourou, Luo Mouyi and Luo Mouyi's boyfriend Zhao Mouquan went to the grave of Chen Moulian's deceased husband to mourn according to custom. After cleaning up the weeds and branches around the cemetery, Luo Mourou used a lighter to ignite the weeds, and because of the strong wind that day, the ignited sparks were blown to the nearby hillside, causing a forest fire.

The four people immediately extinguished the fire with tree branches and other means, but the wind was too strong to control the fire. The four people shouted loudly, asked people from nearby villages to help, and called the fire alarm, and with the joint efforts of everyone, the fire was extinguished.

"This time the burning area of the mountain is so large, I will definitely go to prison, I am not married, and being sentenced will affect the next generation." In the process of putting out the fire, Luo Mourou regretted her actions and kept complaining. Luo Mourou proposed that her mother was old, and even if she was in prison, it would not have much impact, and she wanted to ask her mother to "take the blame" for herself. Chen Moulian also agreed to help his daughter "take the blame", and his sister Luo Mouyi did not object. Later, Luo Mouyi and Luo Mourou told Zhao Mouquan about the situation discussed by the three people, and proposed to unanimously say that the fire was caused by Chen Moulian's ignition.

On the day of the incident, during the investigation by the public security organs, Chen Moulian admitted that he ignited the weeds and caused the fire, and the three people who accompanied him also said that the fire was ignited by Chen. After the incident, after investigation, the total area of the fire exceeded 24 hectares.

Because the area of the fire reached the standard for filing a criminal case, on February 15, the Pingtang County Public Security Bureau opened a case for investigation and interrogated the four people again. Chen Moulian still admitted that he accidentally caused the mountain fire, and the other three people also pointed out that Chen Moulian burned the mountain. On February 20, Chen Moulian was criminally detained by the public security organs. On February 27, the public security organs submitted a request to the Pingtang County Procuratorate for approval of Chen's arrest on suspicion of the crime of arson.

The source of the tools used to commit the crime is unknown

There are doubts in the case

Wang Ling, a prosecutor from the Pingtang County Procuratorate, was responsible for undertaking the case. For her, this is just one of the many criminal cases she has handled, the facts of the case are simple, the area of the fire meets the standard for filing a case, the criminal suspect voluntarily admits guilt, and there is witness testimony to corroborate, it is just a "small case". But the "small case" did not let her slack off, she carefully reviewed the entire case file, carefully compared Chen Moulian's confession and the testimony of three other witnesses, and found that the case was not so simple.

The tools and methods of committing the crime are necessary to investigate the crime of fire. During the investigation, the public security organs learned about the relevant situation from several people. According to Chen's confession, none of the four people carried tools that could be ignited, she walked to the side of the nearby highway to stop the car, a white car stopped, she borrowed a lighter from the driver, and then lit the weeds.

"I don't know what kind of tools she (Chen Moulian) used to light the fire, and I don't know where the tools used came from or where they are now." Luo Mouyi said during the investigation by the public security organs. "It was indeed the fire that she (Chen Moulian) lit, but I don't know where she found the ignition tool, and I haven't seen the specific process of ignition." Luo Mourou's statement is basically the same as that of her sister. Zhao Mouquan also said that he did not know how to light the fire.

"Chen Moulian confessed that he borrowed a lighter from someone else to light the fire, but the three people who accompanied him did not know what the ignition tool was and where it came from." After repeatedly comparing the records made by the public security organs on the four people, Wang Ling felt that the matter was more suspicious. For this reason, she specially came to the scene of the crime to conduct a field investigation, and found that although the road from the cemetery to the periphery was some distance, there was no shelter and the field of vision was very wide. If Chen Moulian borrowed a lighter from the driver of a white sedan passing by, it would be impossible for the other three people not to see it, and some of the four people must have lied.

The prosecutor reported the situation to the police and suggested that the driver of the white sedan be found. Investigators retrieved surveillance video from the main road leading to the scene of the crime, and did not find that a white car entered the scene of the crime and the nearby area during the time of the crime. After analysis, investigators believe that Chen Moulian made a false confession.

Submit supplementary investigative opinions

Find out the truth of the case

"It is recommended to retrieve the call records and chat records between the four people, find out the source of the lighter, and verify who caused the forest fire." The procurator believed that if several people "colluded confessions," they were likely to discuss the matter in private, so they submitted detailed supplementary investigation opinions to the public security organs.

Investigators retrieved the WeChat chat records of the four people, and found from the chat records between Luo Mouyi and Luo Mourou that the two clearly mentioned that the fire was caused by Luo Mourou.

The public security organs again interrogated 4 people, Chen Moulian, Luo Mouyi, Luo Mourou, and Zhao Mouquan. In the face of the evidence, the four people finally told the truth at the time of the crime. The four of them were cleaning up the weeds that day, and halfway through Luo Mourou asked a few people if there was a lighter, Luo Mouyi was responsible for cooking at home and carried a lighter with him, Luo Mourou took out a lighter from Luo Mouyi's pocket and lit the weeds. Although the three of them discussed that Chen Moulian ignited the fire, they did not expect that the public security organs would ask such detailed questions, let alone that the prosecutor would return to the scene of the crime to find suspicious points in the case.

On March 4, the Pingtang County Procuratorate approved the arrest of Chen Moulian. On March 19, the public security organs requested the procuratorate to approve the arrest of Luo Mourou on suspicion of the crime of arson. On March 21, the Pingtang County Procuratorate made a decision to approve the arrest. On April 9, the public security organs transferred the case to the Pingtang County Procuratorate for review and prosecution.

After review, the procuratorate believed that Luo Mourou was suspected of the crime of arson because she accidentally caused a forest fire with fire, and after the case, in order to avoid legal prosecution, she instructed her mother to help her "take the crime", and her behavior was suspected of obstructing testimony. In order to let his daughter escape punishment, Chen Moulian provided false statements to the public security organs, and wanted to assume criminal responsibility for his daughter, and his behavior was already suspected of harboring crimes. In order to cover up his sister's criminal acts, Luo Mouyi and his sister jointly instructed Zhao Mouquan to give false testimony, and was suspected of obstructing testimony. Zhao Mouquan was instructed by Luo Mouyi and Luo Mourou, and he was suspected of perjury after knowing that the fire was committed by Luo Mourou, and still gave false testimony in order to make Luo Mourou evade punishment. Considering that Luo Mouyi and Zhao Mouquan were not subjectively vicious, voluntarily pleaded guilty and accepted punishment, were first-time offenders, and the circumstances of the crime were minor, the court planned to deal with them without prosecution.

On April 28, the Pingtang County Procuratorate held a public hearing on the case at the scene of the case, and invited some villager representatives to participate, and the hearing officers unanimously agreed not to prosecute Luo Mouyi and Zhao Mouquan. On the same day, the Pingtang County Procuratorate made a decision not to prosecute the two, and at the same time transferred the clues to the public security organs in accordance with the requirements for the reverse connection of executions, and recommended that the public security organs impose administrative punishments on the two. The public security organs adopted the procuratorial opinion and imposed administrative detention on Luo Mouyi and Zhao Mouquan for five days and a fine of 200 yuan.

On April 28, the Pingtang County Procuratorate filed a public prosecution with the court. A few days ago, the court adopted the procuratorate's conviction and sentencing recommendation and made the above judgment after trial.

Source: Procuratorate Daily, Rule of Law News Edition

Author: Ding Yanhong, Xiao Jiayun, Meng Ting