Teen to face trial - accused of lighting boy, 11, on fire

THE 11-YEAR-OLD BOY, dressed in a yellow shirt and blue jeans, swung back and forth in a Family Court witness chair.

In a sweet, childlike voice, his head resting on his palm, he testified that an older boy lit his left side on fire with a lighter.

"He was laughing," the 11-year-old testified Friday.

The boy looked at Assistant District Attorney Kate Shulman, sitting in a chair facing him. But briefly, he pointed to the defense table to identify Rayfiq Tiggle as the teen who set him on fire.

Tiggle, of Delancey Street near 62nd, was held for trial on all charges, including arson, aggravated assault and possession of an instrument of crime, by Common Pleas Judge James Murray Lynn after a preliminary hearing.

Public defender David Rosen told the judge that Tiggle is 16 years old, per his family, and not 17 as authorities first said.

Police have said the incident occurred on Hazel Avenue near 60th Street, in West Philly, about 5:30 p.m. July 8.

The 11-year-old boy testified that he and a 9-year-old friend were hanging out on the friend's porch after returning from a pool.

He said Tiggle walked by with hand sanitizer. His friend asked Tiggle for some of it, and Tiggle sprayed it on the friend's hand, the 11-year-old said. His friend then went in his house.

Tiggle then "sprayed it [the hand sanitizer] on me," said the 11-year-old, indicating it was sprayed on his left side.

Tiggle then pulled out the lighter in his pocket and flipped it open, the boy said. "As he lit the lighter, he pointed it to my side."

The 11-year-old said he then found himself on fire for seven to 10 seconds. He wasn't wearing a shirt. "I was swiping it down," he said. His younger friend then came back out onto the porch.

The 11-year-old said he rushed home, then went to a hospital.

He lifted up the left side of his yellow shirt in court to show the judge the pink scars on his body.

Shulman told the judge that medical records from Mercy Philadelphia Hospital showed the 11-year-old had second-degree burns and 10 of 10 on a pain scale.

"This is a horrendous case," the judge said. "You worry about kids doing mean things to animals."

But for someone to set an 11-year-old on fire, "there's something deeply disturbing," he said.

The prosecutor asked for a bail increase. As the judge increased bail from $100,000 to $500,000, Tiggle, a thin boy, his hands cuffed in front of him, wearing a long white thermal shirt and jeans, dropped his head down, upset.

After the hearing, the 11-year-old's mother, Kristal, 35, said she and her son don't know Tiggle. The Daily News is not publishing her last name or her son's name out of concern for their safety.

Her son said his 9-year-old friend "knew of" Tiggle.

"It was a ludicrous act," the mom said. She praised Officers Thor Johnson and Jennifer Jackson, of West Philly's 18th District, whom she flagged down in their patrol car, for rushing her and her son to the hospital and finding the suspect later that day.

The cops recovered two BIC lighters from Tiggle's pockets when they found him riding a bike a couple of blocks from the Hazel Avenue house, they said.

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