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Squamish man found guilty of CapU arson

A DNA match on a Sprite bottle combined with video surveillance of an intruder setting fire to a cabinet in a Capilano University library has resulted in an arson conviction for a Squamish man.
Arson suspect

A DNA match on a Sprite bottle combined with video surveillance of an intruder setting fire to a cabinet in a Capilano University library has resulted in an arson conviction for a Squamish man.

Judge William Rodgers found Shane Nendick, 35, guilty of the charge in North Vancouver provincial court March 31.

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 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.

In finding Nendick guilty of arson, Rodgers wrote, “I find there is no other rational conclusion but that the fire was deliberately set.”

Rodgers said the DNA match proves the person who broke open the safe and was seen on video setting the fire was Nendick.

Chances of anyone else’s DNA being a random match are “one in 230 quadrillion,” according to a DNA expert who testified at the trial, said Rodgers.

That proves guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, wrote the judge. “It is a statistical impossibility to conclude otherwise.”

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 contained in a pair of shorts from a backpack ditched by someone running away from a break-and-enter scene at an Esso Station at 2747 Mountain Hwy. on Jan. 10, 2015 also proved Nendick was guilty of that crime, Rodgers wrote.

During the trial, Nendick’s defence lawyer Michael Fox argued there were no witnesses who had seen Nendick puncturing tires, urging Rodgers not to speculate on why his client’s blood was found at the crime scene.

But the judge ruled that wasn’t reasonable.

While criminal law requires a high degree of proof, the duty of the trial judge is to consider a “rational conclusion,” Rodgers wrote.

Rodgers found Nendick guilty of all 28 charges, including arson, multiple counts of mischief and three counts of break-and-enter.

Rodgers ordered a psychiatric report be prepared prior to sentencing for Nendick. A date for that has not yet been set.