Two teenage girls who were arrested on Friday for causing a blaze that destroyed one shop and damaged several others at the Alkmaar shopping centre De Mare, did so “out of boredom”, their lawyer has said.

The girls, 12 and 14 years old, who are from in Alkmaar but are currently living in  Den Helder and Heerhugowaard, admitted setting fire to the shopping centre and attempting to set fire to six other buildings, a library and a cinema among them. Those fires were discovered and dealt with by staff in time.

“The girls had met up in the park in the de Mare area to chill, not with a set purpose to set fire to buildings,” lawyer Elwin Boskma told local broadcaster NH Nieuws. Boskma said the two were “vulnerable” but would not comment on the girls’ domestic circumstances.

“It’s the holidays, they have no school, nothing to do all day. I understand that people think how crazy can you be but we cannot see inside the brain of an adolescent. We cannot suppose that these vulnerable children realise their actions have consequences the way adults would,” he said.

The spate of fires started on Friday afternoon at a library at 3 pm, followed by attempts to set fire to the Grote Kerk, a cinema, a McDonald’s and a Decathlon shop. The spree ended with the blaze at the shopping centre around 9 pm.

NH Nieuws followed up on the incidents and discovered the link with the two girls. They had been told to leave another library earlier that day, the paper found.

“They came in making a lot of noise and were answering back,” a member of staff said. They then went to the second library where they set fire to a display on a floor without camera surveillance which was discovered by a volunteer member of staff.

The girls were spotted at all these locations, prompting police to issue an alert on citizens’ network Burgernet asking people to look out for two teenage girls of  “around 16 or 17 of age”.

The two were arrested shortly after the fire at the shopping centre and have appeared before a judge for a preliminary hearing. The 14-year-old has been remanded for two weeks and the 12-year-old has been released.