Conditional discharge for motel fire
By Your Southwest Media Group
A man got a six-month conditional discharge for setting a fire that damaged a local motel last Christmas after pleading guilty here on Thursday.
Manjinder Singh, 22, now of Calgary, was trying to destroy old receipts and other papers at the Travelodge by burning them in a metal pail, Crown prosecutor Cody Yuskiw told Judge Lisa Watson during a provincial court session at the Elks hall.
Singh pleaded guilty through a lawyer to the lesser charge of willfully lighting a fire that resulted in property destruction, rather than the arson offence he’d earlier faced.
Flames escaped the pail and spread to the rear hallway, burning a back door and a hole in the floor and scorching nearby walls and rooms, Yuskiw said, adding that Singh tried to douse the flames with water and a fire extinguisher.
Nobody got hurt and the motel had been without occupants since Dec. 16, Yuskiw said.
Singh started working as the motel’s office administrator last June, his lawyer said. The man has a work permit, abided by conditions imposed after the fire and has been “continuously employed and self-supporting” since he arrived in Canada, the lawyer said.
Judge Watson imposed conditions that the lawyers had agreed to and ordered Singh to pay a $100 victim surcharge, complete 25 hours of community service by the end of the fifth month of his sentence and take any fire safety or fire awareness program his probation officer demands.
“Your decision on this particular day was not a good choice,” Judge Watson told Singh, adding that she was “quite confident” the man wouldn’t be back in court.
The prospect of a trial proceeding during the June 25 session dimmed after Travis Kurmey, charged with fraud over a stolen $2,600 cheque, said that neither he nor provincial jail staff could open a USB drive containing the Crown’s disclosure, the evidence against him.
A lawyer for Kurmey, 36 and from Saskatoon, had withdrawn, Judge Watson said, suggesting that the Crown again try to send the accused a copy of the disclosure.
Police accused the man of depositing the stolen cheque into a bank account on June 28, 2024.
Shawn D. Evaschesen, 56, of Medicine Hat must pay $230 after pleading guilty as the registered owner to disobeying a stop sign here on Feb. 2.
Jesujuwon O. Ajomale, 25, of Saskatoon pleaded guilty to speeding and got fined $180 instead of the original $210 after reaching a deal with a prosecutor. Police clocked the man going 130 km/h near Harris on Jan. 15.
Matthew J. A. McGuigan, 42, of Kindersley must pay $150 after pleading guilty to driving without a valid licence here on April 16. Police charged the man with driving while his licence was suspended over unpaid fines.
McGuigan hadn’t had a valid licence for 15 years but planned to try to get it back, a prosecutor said, calling the man’s decision to drive “a one-off.”
Pleading guilty to the valid licence charge brings less severe consequences, Judge Watson advised McGuigan.
The judge also agreed to set a third trial date for a traffic offence after the woman, who didn’t show up for her trial that day, said by phone that she couldn’t attend because she’d loaned her vehicle to her mother. Her mother needed to return to work, an eight-hour drive away in Alberta, the accused said.
“The transmission went” on her mother’s vehicle and the accused thought she’d be able to obtain a ride to Rosetown but failed, she said.
A prosecutor argued against setting a third trial date, asking for a default conviction, because it would mean a third trip to Rosetown for the officer from Outlook who’d given the woman the ticket.
Judge Watson set the trial for Aug. 27, when the officer was already scheduled to be here for another trial.