PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — “An ocean of smoke” is how one resident recalled the night of Feb. 18, 2018, as he looked down the steps of 239 Chestnut St.
He heard an explosive whoosh and flew “6 inches up out of his seat” before running upstairs to rescue his friend’s two children, who were home alone.
Imad Dawara sat and listened to the man’s testimony on Tuesday, as well as testimony from other tearful residents of the torched condo building. In February, Dawara admitted to a judge that he and his brother, Bahaa, used gasoline to spark the four-alarm blaze in the hopes of collecting insurance money for their failing business.
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Imad Dawara apologized to the judge for “what happened,” then the judge hesitantly agreed to the negotiated plea deal: nine years in federal prison.
A mother, who recounted losing every treasured memory of her young children, told the judge she saw the brothers laughing across the street from the building as it burned.
A Philadelphia firefighter recalled the steps he and his company took that night to try to rescue victims and fight the blaze, adding he was “very lucky not to leave his three children as orphans.”
The fire spread across the entire block. Miraculously, the judge noted, no one died.
Prosecutor Jeanine Linehan said the victims just want to move on with their lives.
“The judge thought anyone who could do that, risking lives, had to have some sense of evil,” she said, “because there were people sleeping above the restaurant that was destroyed [by arson].”
Linehan said the victims were most concerned that the judge order the brothers to “stay away” from them, as she said they fear possible retaliation.
Bahaa Dawara is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday and will likely face the same penalty.
The brothers are also ordered to pay $22 million in restitution to the victims.