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Weekend, August 5-7, 2011 www.metronews.ca News worth sharing.
JAMES TURNER/METRO
Arsonist nabbed in recent blazes Lack of ‘independent evidence’ in case is ‘disturbing and concerning’, lawyer Martin Glazer says ‘Taking a statement from him is like taking candy from a baby,’ Glazer adds
The same day that police arrested a man and charged him in connection with suspected arson ďŹ res in Fort Rouge, a carport and shed were set on ďŹ re on Fleet Avenue.
orrowN m o T Q BN Details in store.
A Winnipeg man who was previously convicted of setting a fire has been accused in a long string of alleged arsons that left people in the Fort Rouge area shaken and afraid to sleep. Brandon Sutyla, 20, was arrested at the scene of a car fire on Chancellor Drive at about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, police said. He is in custody facing 20 arson-related charges as well as for possessing a lighter while prohibited. The fires, which were usually set to garages but spread to nearby homes, caused $680,000 damage, said police. The charges against Sutyla have not been proven in court and he is presumed innocent. Sutyla is also accused of breaching the terms of a two-year-long supervised probation order handed to him last fall as part of a sentence for setting a fire at a garage on Wellington Crescent two summers ago. People in parts of River Heights and Tuxedo had been victimized by
a long streak of intentionally set fires targeting garages, fences and garbage cans. As well, some structures at Assiniboine Park had been damaged. Police arrested Sutyla, then 18, and charged him with 19 counts of arson. He pleaded guilty last fall to one count as part of a plea deal with justice officials. Court heard Sutyla suffered from intellectual disabilities and attention-deficit disorder. The case against him largely rested on a statement he gave police after they took him on a ride-along where he allegedly pointed out areas where fires were set. But the statement was “severely compromised because of his intellectual deficits� and would likely have been thrown out of court, his lawyer, Martin Glazer, said. Const. Rob Carver said on Thursday that arson investigators don’t anticipate making any further arrests in the Fort Rouge cases. However, police said they’re con-
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“People are going to sleep a lot easier tonight in Fort Rouge. People have been scared. People have been very concerned.� PAUL HESSE, LIBERAL MLA HOPEFUL AND AREA RESIDENT
cerned that a suspicious fire was set behind a Fleet Avenue home hours after Sutyla was in police custody, and it’s possible it could be a copycat crime. “There’s always a concern that that behaviour can spring up.� JAMES TURNER
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