Firefighter does the unimaginable to a refugee shelter in Germany

A firefighter who set fire on an asylum home in Altena, in the state of North Rhine Westphalia, Germany has been jailed.

The 26-year-old firefighter together with an accomplice set fire on the refugee home in October last year.

He has now been sentenced to six years in prison while his accomplice has been handed a five-year-term, DW reported.

The two men admitted that they had set fire to the attic of a refugee home in Altena.

While the men were found guilty of aggravated arson, the judge rejected charges to punish them for attempted murder.

Despite setting fire to the building, the court ruled that there was no evidence to prove that the men intended to kill any refugees.

Last year there were 1,047 attacks on refugee homes in Germany.

The attacks on refugee homes this year are likely to exceed those of last year. By the end of August 2016, police had recorded 705 attacks on asylum shelters. Of these, 57 were cases of arson and 67 included other kinds of attacks, DW reported.

Although arsonists increasingly target refugee shelters in Germany, it is never easy to find and prosecute culprits.

A report released by Pro Asyl earlier this year shows that police manage to find the culprits only in one out of every four cases.