Man sentenced over Fort Simpson RCMP duplex arson

A 21-year-old man from Fort Simpson has been given an 18-month conditional sentence for arson.

Sadee Williams Guinn had pleaded guilty to one count of arson in connection to an August 2021 fire that damaged an RCMP housing duplex under construction in Fort Simpson.

NWT Supreme Court Justice Shannon Smallwood gave Williams Guinn an 18-month conditional sentence – consisting of one year of house arrest followed by six months’ curfew – in Yellowknife on Monday. Following the conditional sentence, Williams Guinn will be on probation for 18 months.

The defence and Crown lawyers had jointly proposed the sentence, arguing it was not unduly punitive nor light and would send a message to the community.

Prosecutor Jared Kelly said one year is not a short amount of time to be under house arrest, particularly for a young person, and Williams Guinn would be under court conditions for a total of three years.

Justice Smallwood said while the maximum sentence for arson is 14 years’ imprisonment, people convicted of the offence have been given a broad range of sentences based on the circumstances. She noted the law changed in 2022, expanding the number of offences for which a conditional sentence is available, including arson.

Smallwood said judges have limited discretion to alter joint sentencing submissions and, in this case, a conditional sentence would be appropriate.

Things got out of hand, accused says

According to an agreed statement of facts, Williams Guinn and two male youths, who were also charged with arson, started the fire early on the morning of August 22, 2021.

Williams Guinn said he was intoxicated at the time. He told police he and the two youths thought it would be funny but things quickly got out of hand.

Defence lawyer Tú Pham said his client called the fire department as he was “shocked” by how bad the flames were getting so quickly and he wanted to prevent damage.

Shortly after being arrested on January 15, 2022, Williams Guinn told police: “I did it.”

The agreed facts state the fire caused $784,749 in damage to the duplex, which was 60-percent finished, as well as damage worth $19,000 to property inside the building.

Pham said Williams Guinn never intended the level of damage that resulted from the fire, which Justice Smallwood accepted.

While the insurer of the duplex requested that the court make Williams Guinn pay more than $650,000 to compensate them for the loss, that was not recommended by the Crown and defence lawyers.

Prosecutor Kelly said given Williams Guinn’s age and means, requiring him to incur “quite significant” debt would be like giving him an indefinite sentence.

Justice Smallwood said it was “an unfortunate situation” where the insurer and construction company would have to bear the financial loss as the cost of doing business.

She did order Williams Guinn to pay a $200 victim-of-crime surcharge, which goes to a fund that supports programs, services and assistance to victims of crime in the NWT.

Kelly said arson is “a very serious offence” because of the damage and injury it can cause and the unpredictability of large fires. In this case, he said, the fire took place near other residential structures and was “somewhat an affront to an … authority in the community” as it damaged RCMP housing.

Kelly said other factors he and Pham considered when crafting the joint sentencing submission are that Williams Guinn was 18 when the offence occurred, has no prior criminal record, is employed full time, and has met court conditions with few issues.

“There is a lot of potential for him to keep his life on track,” Kelly said.

Pham said since the offence, Williams Guinn is “riddled with guilt” and feels ashamed every time he goes by the site of the duplex.

At the time of the offence, Pham said his client was drinking daily but now only drinks on special occasions. He said Wiliams Guinn also financially contributes to his family’s grocery and power bills, and is no longer friends with the co-accused.

Pham added Williams Guinn accepts responsibility for his actions and understands how dangerous they were.

“I’m sorry for what I did,” Williams Guinn told the court. “I’m a completely different person.”

‘It’s something that can’t happen’

At the onset of Monday’s sentencing hearing, Pham raised concerns that his client had not eaten in 24 hours.

He said court services, which transported Williams Guinn from Fort Simpson to Yellowknife for the hearing, had not allowed him to charge meals from his hotel, as is their usual practice.

Pham said it was “alarming” that a young Indigenous person had been taken out of his community and allowed to go hungry for that length of time.

“It’s something that can’t happen,” he said, adding he planned to address the issue with court services.