Two young men who pleaded guilty to arson in a fire that claimed Yorkton’s old curling rink in October 2015 have been sentenced to 18 months in prison.
At a sentencing hearing yesterday the Court heard that Dion Shingoose and Jonah Kitchemonia broke into the old rink on Front Street on October 8, 2015 with the intention of setting it on fire. They poured an accelerant on a bench, lit it and fled.
Investigators were alerted to Shingoose’s involvement by an anonymous tip, prosecutor Andy Wyatt said. At first Shingoose denied it, but later cooperated also providing police with his accomplice’s name.
Kitchemonia also confessed under police questioning and both pleaded guilty in November after being released on bail with electronic monitoring for a condition.
At that time, Judge Ross Green ordered pre-sentence reports and scheduled sentencing for January 26, but it was delayed as the Crown and defence, represented by Richard Yaholnitsky, negotiated over restitution.
Wyatt spent a good deal of time at the hearing talking about restitution noting there were three claims from the building’s owners. He declined to ask the court for a restitution order, though, on the basis that he could not provide an accurate figure for the loss and that there was almost no likelihood Shingoose and Kitchemonia would ever be able to pay it.
He did tell the Court however, that insurance pegged the monetary loss between $350,000 and $1.5 million citing that along with emotional damage as aggravating circumstances. He also brought up the danger posed to area residents and firefighters in asking for 18 months in prison followed by 18 months probation.
The sentence was a joint submission that Yahonitsky called “fair and reasonable. He cited positive pre-sentence reports, lack of extensive criminal records and early guilty pleas as mitigating circumstances.
Green acknowledged it was difficult to pass lengthy jail sentences given the defendants’ youth and the positive reports, but said the challenge was “the enormity of what happened” saying it was a “senseless action” that posed “significant danger to both residents and firefighters.”
He accepted the joint submission.
Following their incarceration they will spend 18 months on probation with conditions to live at approved residences, abstain from alcohol and drugs, participate in assessment and treatment, seek employment, do 240 hours of community service and write an apology to the building’s owners.
The judge also imposed mandatory DNA and weapons prohibition orders.
Shingoose also received 10 days time-served for an unrelated mischief charge.
