A janitor was badly injured after a Syrian asylum seeker threw hot oil in his face during a house visit in Kassel. The janitor visited the man with two policemen for an arson investigation, 112-magazin reports.

The 30-year-old Syrian asylum seeker, who didn’t speak German, was asked to come with the men to meet a translator and answer some questions.

But the man turned around and took a pot filled with boiling oil from the stove and threw the oil on the police officials and the janitor who accompanied the investigators.

The janitor suffered severe burns on the face, upper body and arms. He had to be brought to a special clinic in Hanover on Friday. The two police officials suffered minor injuries.

The men were doing an investigation into arson of the apartment building. There had been problems in the previous week: An unknown person had set a newspaper on fire in the building’s hallway, and later there was another attempt.

When, on Friday, another paper notice was burned, the police officers began an investigation in the apartment building.

At the request of Kassel’s prosecutor office, the 30-year-old was presented on Saturday to a magistrate at Kassel’s district court, who ordered his detention.