Tashieka Mair, Star Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

A mentally-challenged teenager who burnt down a house he shared with another person, had the matter against him dismissed after he made restitution in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court on Thursday.

Collin Walters, 19, who was facing an arson charge, was let off with a warning from RM Winsome Henry after making a final payment of $7000 from an agreed $20,000 to the complainant.

The RM urged him to behave himself or the next time he could be sent to prison.

Walters was charged in June 2007 after a witness alleged that he saw the accused pour liquid on a door of the house before setting the house ablaze. The complainant allegedly lost all her belongings in the blaze.

When he was arrested on the day following the incident, he allegedly said, "every time mi turn on the TV, mi see a whole heap of people on it."

The complainant decided to settle the matter accepting the above-mentioned sum to do away with the court proceedings.