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Conditional sentence 'last chance' for convicted arsonist

Judge releases reasons in CapU arson and tire-slashing case
Nendick

A provincial court judge has released his reasons for allowing a Squamish man to avoid jail after being convicted of arson for deliberately setting fire to Capilano University library and going on a tire-slashing spree.

Judge William Rodgers wrote that if Shane Clifford Nendick, 35, receives intensive psychological counselling it represents the best chance of preventing him from committing further crimes and protecting the public.

Rodgers wrote that there is a better chance of that happening while Nendick is living with his family under house arrest than there is in jail.

Conditions of Nendick’s conditional sentence include getting counselling and psychiatric treatment.

On March 31, Rodgers  found Nendick guilty of 28 charges, including 24 charges of mischief causing damage to property in relation to the tire slashing, one charge of arson and three charges of break-and-enter, following a 12-day trial in North Vancouver provincial court. DNA evidence connected Nendick to all of the crime scenes.

On Aug. 24, Rodgers sentenced Nendick to a conditional sentence of just under two years at his family home in Squamish for the tire-slashing spree. Nendick was also handed a suspended sentence and three years’ probation for the arson conviction, to be served after the conditional sentence.

Public reaction to the sentence was swift, with some calling the sentence a “joke” online and others questioning why Nendick had been handed a get-out-of-jail card.

On Aug. 30, Rodgers released the reasons for his sentence. According to the judge, Crown prosecutor Arlene Loyst had asked for a jail term of three to five years.

Nendick’s defence lawyer, Michael Fox, asked for leniency, arguing Nendick’s low level of intellectual functioning and mental illness make his “moral blameworthiness” for the crime low.

Psychological assessments submitted to the judge showed Nendick has a psychotic disorder and his “intellectual/cognitive functioning was in the extremely low range.”

The judge wrote that Nendick became a “prolific offender” in 2015 when he faced charges of assault with a weapon, assault, and resisting a peace officer, for which he received probation in 2016.

Previously, Nendick had held a decade-long job as a forklift operator. By 2015, however, Nendick was homeless, paranoid and living in the bush.

Both Nendick and his mother told the judge he had suffered a head injury sometime around 2012.

The judge wrote that aside from his psychotic disorder, there appeared to be no motive for Nendick’s crimes.

The judge noted that although Nendick isn’t going to jail, the sentence will result in court-ordered supervision for the next five years.

Rodgers added the conditional sentence and probation order is a “last chance” for Nendick, adding if he doesn’t comply with the conditions he will end up in jail.