Arson inside rental home nets over a year in jail

An admitted arsonist who set a pile of clothes on fire in a Brandon rental property could have faced a longer sentence if the blaze had been life-threatening, a Crown attorney said Wednesday.

“This was not a minor fire, though admittedly not an all-consuming fire,” Rich Lonstrup said in a Brandon provincial court.

“The flames were described as being about waist-high, and the accused was ultimately found to be in possession of a white torch lighter.”

Melvin Mousseau, 27, from Long Plain First Nation, pleaded guilty to arson with damage to property and mischief to property under $5,000 in the 2024 incident, as well as breaches involving a curfew and protection order in May.

Lonstrup said police were initially called to a Brandon residence on Aug. 22, 2024 for a complaint of a man using an axe to chop down trees in a person’s front yard. The complainant pointed out the accused when police arrived at the scene.

Police spoke with Mousseau and noticed smoke was creeping from an open door of the house, the Crown said.

“They asked the accused, at this point having no suspicion of an arson or anything of the sort, ‘Something on fire inside?’ and the accused replied, ‘I was smudging,’” Lonstrup said.

Police saw a large flame from the doorway and entered the home to find a pile of clothes had been set on fire in the middle of a room.

Brandon Fire and Emergency Services was called to the scene and the fire was extinguished. Police learned the home was a rental property.

Lonstrup said Mousseau’s sister was a former tenant and had abandoned the residence. There is no known motive for why Mousseau was at the property that day, he said.

“There was no recent antipathy suggesting he was doing this to make anybody mad,” Lonstrup said, adding that it was pure happenstance the police noticed a fire in the home.

Regardless of what Mousseau’s intentions were, arson is serious and has unpredictable consequences, the Crown said.

The damage caused the rental property to be uninhabitable for five weeks. The homeowners had to install new locks on the door, scrub smoke damage off the walls and surfaces, paint, repair flooring and throw out burned items, Lonstrup said.

In addition to the 2024 incident, court heard Mousseau’s sister called police this year on May 9, saying her brother was highly intoxicated on drugs and alcohol, and she wanted him removed from her home. Mousseau was charged with breaching an order not to contact his sister and his curfew condition requiring him to reside in Rolling River First Nation.

Defence lawyer Jennifer Janssens said Mousseau lived within seven different non-Indigenous foster homes throughout his childhood and was separated from his eight siblings. He’s struggled with addiction from an early age, she said.

“He tells me the reason for his apprehension was really related to alcohol abuse and violence in the home,” Janssens said.

He’s the father of four children, ranging from six months to 11 years old. His three oldest children have been living in Brandon with their grandmother since their mother died.

The Crown and defence made a joint recommendation, suggesting he serve 395 days in jail on all four charges.

Lonstrup also suggested two years of supervised probation, including conditions to attend counselling and other treatment as necessary and a 10-year discretionary firearm prohibition.

Janssens argued supervised probation wasn’t needed as Mousseau is aware of community resources and support available to him. She also opposed the weapons ban, noting the 2024 incident didn’t involve any violence.

“The fire itself, though I acknowledge can be extremely dangerous, was easily contained with a fire extinguisher,” Janssens said.

“There were no weapons brandished or used. He did have something to cut down the trees, but that wasn’t used towards anyone else.”

Judge Christina Cheater decided to impose two years of unsupervised probation, encouraging the accused to make empowering choices to be better for his children.

“If you haven’t decided that this is rock bottom and you need to do something about this, it doesn’t matter how much I order for you to do, nothing is going to change,” Cheater said.

The judge didn’t impose a 10-year weapons ban because she didn’t feel the circumstance called for it.

She agreed with both counsels’ joint recommendation of 395 days in jail. Mousseau has a credit of 269 days for time served and will spend another 126 days in jail for these offences on top of a separate sentence he’s serving at the Brandon Correctional Centre.

The judge also sentenced him to additional conditions not to contact the homeowners or be within 50 metres of their home, workplace or place of worship, or contact his sister unless he’s been sober for at least 24 hours and she’s given her consent to see him.

Mousseau is scheduled to appear in court in October for a charge of aggravated assault.

» tadamski@brandonsun.com