Kelowna Law Courts

(KATHY MICHAELS / iNFOnews.ca)

A Lake Country man who went on a 2018 crime spree that included lighting a fire outside a stranger's home and then stealing a truck to escape was sentenced July 30 to 511 days in prison and will be banned from possessing firearms for 10 years.

Matthew David Hansen, 32, also saw other charges stayed as this matter reached its end.

The court heard at an earlier sentencing hearing he had been sober for 20 months and three days, embracing “structure and rehabilitation” since being the catalyst of a strange series of events that he claims he has no memory of.

According to Lynskey, Hansen blacked out the memory of starting a fire outside of a home in the 2500 block of Robinson Road in Lake Country, and was an addict at the time. Though the strange series of events is likely seared into the memory of others who were there that day.

According to RCMP at the time, Hansen was chased from a fire he started from an unusual pile of objects at around 7 a.m. by a resident of the home. When the resident, David Yerema, went outside to douse the blaze, his pyjamas caught fire, Hansen got away and Yerema's wife took chase.

Hansen got away by running into an orchard, and he then stole a pickup truck, which ended up crashing on Lake Hill Drive in the Lakes subdivision.

RCMP at the time said he was seen by residents, hopping over fences and he was arrested within a couple of hours of the fire being sparked.

In his defence, Lynskey said that it’s clear from video footage from the crime that Hansen wasn’t “goal-oriented” with his attempt to set fire to the home.

Hansen was also ordered to submit his DNA.

—This story originally said Aug.30, it was actually July 30.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Kathy Michaels or call 250-718-0428 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. 

News from © iNFOnews, 2020