A Squamish man found guilty of arson for setting fire to the library at Capilano University and slashing the tires of hundreds of vehicles in the same area will not be jailed for his crimes.
Instead, Shane Clifford Nendick, 35, will serve a conditional sentence of just under two years at his family home in Squamish for the tire-slashing spree and must obey a strict curfew.
Nendick was also handed a suspended sentence and three years’ probation for the arson conviction.
North Vancouver provincial court Judge William Rodgers handed down the sentence Aug. 24 after listening to submissions from both Crown and defence lawyers in a day-long sentencing hearing.
On March 31, Rodgers found Nendick guilty of 28 charges, including 24 charges of mischief in relation to the tire slashing, one charge of arson and three charges of break-and-enter.
Rodgers found Nendick guilty of breaking into the North Vancouver university campus library on Jan. 1, 2015, while it was closed for Christmas break, and deliberately setting a fire in a library office that resulted in about $200,000 of smoke and water damage.
Fire alarms went off in the CapU library that day just before midnight. Firefighters who responded to the call discovered a fire in a wooden cabinet had activated overhead sprinklers.
Police found furniture had been overturned and a safe containing $1,200 had also been smashed open.
Video surveillance footage showed a man using a crowbar to pry open the safe before going into a small office containing the cabinet, carrying papers.
An orange glow was seen on the wall shortly after. The suspect was caught on video drinking from a plastic Sprite bottle as he left the room.
A bottle matching that description was later found next to a door that had been smashed to gain entry to the library, with Nendick’s DNA on it.
Rodgers said the DNA match proves the person who broke open the safe and was seen on video setting the fire was Nendick.
DNA evidence in blood samples also proved Nendick was responsible for puncturing the tires of multiple vehicles overnight in a neighbourhood near to CapU on Dec. 4, 2014 and for breaking into Henry’s Grocery on Capilano Road on Aug. 12, 2015, the judge concluded.
DNA evidence also proved Nendick was guilty of a break-and-enter at an Esso Station at 2747 Mountain Hwy., on Jan. 10, 2015, Rodgers determined.
During the sentencing hearing, Nendick’s lawyer Michael Fox argued for leniency in the case.
Two psychological reports submitted to the judge both indicated Nendick has “an extremely low level of intellectual functioning” and both reports indicated that Nendick’s mental health problems were a significant factor in committing the crimes, Fox said outside the court.
Fox argued that both Nendick’s low level of intellectual functioning and mental illness make his “moral blameworthiness” for the crime very low, as established in other legal precedents.
Rodgers ordered that Nendick serve his three-year probation order after the completion of his conditional sentence.
Fox said outside the court the net result is that Nendick will be on court-ordered supervision for the next five years.
Rodgers indicated he would issue written reasons for his decision at a later date.
This article has been amended to add the defence lawyer’s argument to the judge for leniency in sentencing.
