The court heard that a young boy watched in horror as his mother and her boyfriend used gasoline cans to engage in a “tug of war” on the night when his five-year-old brother was killed in a fire.

Aaron Medcraft, 23, is accused of causing a fatal fire on November 15, 2018 after arguing with the boy’s mother on Wentworth Way in Rugby.

The brother of the helpless boy was taken to the hospital with severe burns, but died four months later from his injuries.

The Warwick Criminal Court today heard about how the other two children and their mother managed to escape safely when Medcraft escaped the fire.

Prosecutor Kevin Hegarty QC said Medcraft threatened to kill his girlfriend and her children before pouring gasoline in the kitchen.

He said: “Then he took out the lighter and lit it, lit the gasoline, and then fled the house.”

Mom and the two eldest children got out of the car, and then she rushed back to the burning house and carried the youngest son outside.

Deadly flame

In a distressing recording, the boy’s brother told the police how he watched Medcraft and his mother fighting shortly before the fire broke out.

The boy said: “I quarreled, I went downstairs.

“They were fighting. Aaron took some gasoline and poured it on the floor, and then his mother threw the lighter on it.

“We went out the window, and then she went back to get [his brother], And then the fire brigade. “

The court heard that the boy and another child climbed out of the window, climbed through a door, and knocked on the neighbor’s door to sound the alarm.

When asked about the relationship between his mother and Medcraft, the boy confirmed that the couple had been dating five months before the fire broke out, and pointed out the man’s “nasty” tendency.

“He was dealing in drugs and robberies. He just did nasty things to people.

“He started fighting or something, and he sold drugs to minors in the park.

“There is a box on the kitchen shelf, the cup is there, the drugs are in that box. Things like cocaine and weeds.

“He had a green container of gasoline in his car. He took one of them the night before the fire.”

Describes that when he saw his mother and Medcraft fighting in the kitchen on the night of the fire, he said: “Aaron threw gasoline on the floor, mother threw the lighter down, and it caught fire.

3

3

“He took out the bottle, unscrewed the lid, dumped everything, and then his mother threw the lighter away.

“She threw it to the ground hard, and it broke. She flicked it and dropped it from its true height.

“It broke and started a fire.

“The lighter is a bit broken, so it’s stuck, and the flame continues.”

Medcraft told the jury that before the fire broke out, he and the boy’s mother had been engaged in a “tug of war” for the gasoline tank.

He claimed that she had caused the fire, and he had tried to rush back to the house to save the child, but “heat hits”.

Medcraft said: “I really want to get help, because I should do it. I should go to the neighbor or the fire brigade, I should do something.”

The man denied murder, attempted murder, and life-threatening arson.

The trial is still going on.