Man gets jail time for torching mother’s belongings

A man who set fire to his mother’s belongings in an attempt to “take ownership of her residence” on a western Manitoba First Nation was sentenced to four months in jail on Thursday.

“Burning your mother’s clothing is strange and also very upsetting to her, and it’s no wonder that she was fearful of what was going on here,” Judge John Combs said in Brandon provincial court.

Brydon McCue pleaded guilty to a single count of arson before the lawyers made their submissions on an appropriate sentence.

Crown attorney Sarah Kok read the facts.

The Manitoba First Nations Police Service received a report that McCue was burning his mother’s belongings outside of her residence on Canupawakpa Dakota Nation.

When officers got to the scene, they found out that McCue was not originally from Manitoba and was evading a warrant for his arrest in Peterborough, Ont.

Officers spoke with McCue’s mother, who said he took her clothing and some personal belongings out of the residence, put them in a dumpster outside and set it on fire.

Kok said McCue’s mother indicated that “she was extremely fearful for her safety and wanted Mr. McCue to be charged and then ultimately removed from the scene.”

Officers found McCue inside the residence and arrested him. While doing so, he made several comments that he was taking ownership of the residence.

The residence was band housing, and Kok said there was no authorization from Canupawakpa that McCue was to take ownership.

There was no damage to the residence itself.

Kok acknowledged that the blaze was limited to the property and not inside the residence, but she said that didn’t take away from the seriousness of the offence.

“Arson is highly unpredictable. We’re very lucky that the fire was able to be contained in a relatively short fashion,” she said. “We know how easily these kinds of fires can get out of control.”

Kok suggested that McCue be sentenced to four months in jail, noting that it would be his longest term of custody. She said the maximum sentence for the offence is 14 years.

McCue has already spent the equivalent of 128 days in custody, meaning he wouldn’t have any time in custody going forward.

She said McCue’s guilty plea was a mitigating factor, since his mother said she would be reluctant to testify in court if the matter was taken to trial.

Defence lawyer Bob Harrison asked for a similar sentence of three to four months and told the court McCue was “drunk” during his offending.

“People who are drunk do weird things. We know that by being in court each day,” Harrison said.

He agreed that his offending “made no sense” and said his client certainly didn’t disagree.

Harrison said the risk of the fire was limited since it was contained in a dumpster and that McCue didn’t express any reason behind why he started the fire in the first place.

Combs went along with the Crown’s recommendation of four months in custody followed by one year of unsupervised probation with conditions, including that he does not contact this mother unless he has her ongoing consent and that he does not possess any incendiary devices.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com