Man sentenced for torching Princess Avenue home

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This article was published 19/12/2023 (744 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man who pleaded guilty to setting fire to a Princess Avenue home after a dispute with a roommate was sentenced to a year and nine months behind bars in provincial court on Monday.

Damien MacIvor, 38, previously pleaded guilty to charges of arson, possessing property obtained by crime, and failing to attend court. Though the Crown and defence did not agree on the sentence for MacIvor, the prosecutor said the case was strong for the Crown, as the entire event had been caught on video surveillance footage.

Crown attorney Sarah Kok read the evidence for the charges in court.

On July 25, 2023, MacIvor had gotten into an argument with another tenant of the house in the 200 block of Princess Avenue East. Video surveillance from the neighbour’s house captured the two arguing for about 15 to 20 minutes. MacIvor, who was intoxicated, was heard on the recording threatening to burn the house down.

A few seconds later, Kok said a window could be heard breaking and something being tossed through the window. A blow torch that was attached to a small camping propane tank was thrown into the home, lighting a fire and causing an explosion.

A woman sleeping inside the home was awakened by the fire and was able to get out uninjured. Emergency crews responded to the fire quickly, but there was significant damage to the inside of the home. The fire also spread, burning the fence of the neighbouring house and beginning to melt the shingles on the roof.

MacIvor also pleaded guilty to possessing two Manitoba Health cards that had been recently stolen and failing to attend court in July.

In a pre-sentence report, which was filed as part of the proceedings, MacIvor told the interviewer for the report that he denied intentionally committing arson, though he did admit to lighting the fire.

Kok argued that MacIvor’s moral culpability for the offence was high because of the potential harm the fire could have caused, especially since there was a woman in the house at the time.

“Even if Mr. MacIvor didn’t even intend to cause the extent of the harm that he did … his actions were impulsive and reckless,” the Crown attorney said. “It’s not a coincidence that the target of the house was someone that he seemed to be having an ongoing argument with just prior to setting the fire.”

She said a sentence had to denounce MacIvor’s actions and he would likely be facing time in a federal penitentiary if it had not been for his guilty pleas. She asked that he be sentenced to a year and nine months behind bars.

MacIvor’s defence lawyer, Anthony Dawson, said his 38-year-old client expressed regret for his actions last summer and has expressed interest in trying to get help for his alcohol addiction. The defence lawyer said MacIvor hopes to move to Winnipeg, where he lived before and was able to stay out of the court system.

MacIvor also had a difficult upbringing, where we was exposed to family violence and alcohol and substance abuse, the court heard.

Dawson asked that his client be sentenced to a year and six months behind bars.

Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta acknowledged MacIvor’s guilty pleas and that the man had taken programming while in custody but said there was a long list of factors that made MacIvor’s offences much more serious.

“There was not just fire but an explosion and his actions posed a serious danger not only to (the tenants of the home) but to first responders who had to deal with the situation,” the judge said.

She said the Crown’s recommended sentence was already on the lower end of the range of sentences given in the circumstances, so she decided to endorse the Crown’s recommendation.

After getting credit for time served, MacIvor will spend about a year and one month longer in jail. He was also sentenced to a term of probation and a weapons prohibition.

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