A man on Sunday pleaded not guilty to setting fire to a couple’s apartment.

Kurt Lanzon, 26, of Tarxien, was charged with voluntarily setting fire to an apartment rented out by Sean Micallef and his partner. 

The alleged incident took place on Thursday, shortly before 2.30pm.  

He was also charged with damaging some €2,500 worth of property to the detriment of Micallef as well as repeatedly threatening him with violence.

Police inspectors Mario Xiberras and Darren Buhagair led the prosecution. 

They told the court that Lanzon, who works as a tow truck driver, had been linked to the crime after they discovered a threatening message graffitied onto the apartment wall with red spray paint.  

The message read “You'll get what's coming to you Ryan”.

Police established that, just four hours earlier, the accused had purchased a can of red spray paint from a nearby ironmonger.