Chinese national sentenced to 3 years for XPZ fire

The man convicted for causing the fire that destroyed the popular Chinese-owned
XPZ supermarket on Sir Sydney Walling Highway, has been sentenced to just over
three years in prison.
The man – Tian Zhao Feng – himself a Chinese national, was sentenced to three
years and three months in prison by High Court Judge, Ann-Marie Smith, when he
came up for sentencing on Wednesday.
Defense Attorney, Wendel Alexander (formerly Wendel Robinson) made an
impassioned plea for leniency for his client, by drawing to the court’s attention the
circumstances that led to the June 1, 2021 incident. Seven days after the fire that
totally destroyed the supermarket, Tian turned himself in to law enforcement
personnel, with the assistance of a friend.
Alexander referred to the social investigation report compiled by Senior Probation
Officer, Alvin Jarvis, where Tian complained of working long hours for poor
wages and being forced to live in deplorable conditions. Alexander also claimed
that Tian left China for St. Lucia where he spent some time before traveling to
Antigua and Barbuda. He told the Probation Officer that both in St Lucia and
Antigua his passport was withheld by the owner of XPZ, Zhang Xiaoping. He was
also asked to sign a document, the details about which he did not know.
During his employment, Zhao Feng developed a series of medical issues, and he
was denied proper medical attention. He then took to drinking and gambling in
order to both ease the pain and to raise additional funds. These, however, only
served to exacerbate the problems.
In appealing to the court, Alexander quoted from literature, “The world is a cruel
place and it is cruelest to the weak… they are…and they die in agony.”
In passing the sentence, Justice Smith deducted the one year, nine months and 22
days Tian spent in custody.