Published: July 03, 2009 01:56 pm      

Man charged with setting ex-girlfriend’s car on fire in Clark County

Evidence in car linked 22-year-old to arson case

A 22-year-old from Louisville is accused of intentionally setting his ex-girlfriend’s vehicle on fire after he saw her with another man.

Officers with the Jeffersonville Police Department and fire department investigators were dispatched to a parking lot along Garden Court on April 26 in reference to an explosion and a black 1995 Buick passenger vehicle on fire. No one was in the vehicle at the time, according to court documents.

Ahmad M. Ghazawi was charged with class B felony arson endangering a human life and class D felony arson. He turned himself in Monday.

Fire investigators determined the vehicle had burn patterns consistent with an ignitable liquid, a probable-cause affidavit states.

Ghazawi’s ex-girlfriend reportedly told police that they got into a fight about man who had been at her house and said he made threatening statements to her.

She said she received a text message from Ghazawi 45 minutes before her car exploded. In it, he allegedly cursed at her for leaving him for a white man. Witnesses told police that they saw Ghazawi’s Volkswagen Jetta leaving the scene as the car exploded, court documents state.

Police executed a search warrant on Ghazawi’s vehicle and found a plastic bottle that indicated “vapor of ignitable liquids” when checked by a hydrocarbon detector.

Bond was set in Clark County Circuit Court at $30,000 court-cash or surety. An omnibus hearing was set for Aug. 18, and a jury trial is scheduled to begin Dec. 1.

He faces six to 20 years in prison if convicted of the more serious charge.