Supreme Court overturns ruling on culpable arson

On 22 May 2025, the Supreme Court overturned a ruling in a case in which Sophie Stevens had complained about the conviction for culpable arson. Sophie argued, among other things, that the court of appeal had failed to adequately substantiate that the client had acted with “gross or significant negligence”, because the court had not established any conduct on which this judgment could be based and had not addressed the defence that the fire had (possibly) been caused by the client falling asleep on the sofa while smoking a cigarette. AG Paridaens concluded in line with the appeal in cassation.

After reiterating important principles regarding the proof of ‘guilt’ as an element of a criminal offence, the Supreme Court considered:

“2.7 The findings of the Court of Appeal do not establish which conduct of the defendant caused open fire to come into contact with the sofa and/or the chair. The court’s ruling that the fire was attributable to the defendant’s negligence, as referred to in Section 158 of the Criminal Code, is not sufficiently substantiated in view of the arguments put forward by the defence. In this regard, the Supreme Court also took into account that the court of appeal left open the possibility, as put forward by the defence in the minutes of the appeal hearing, that the fire was caused by the defendant falling asleep with a burning cigarette.

Read the full judgment here.