A still image from the CCTV footage at the Osoyoos RCMP station.
By Dale Boyd
Osoyoos Times
The Osoyoos man who set fire to the local RCMP station in an incident caught on video is remaining in custody in a hospital setting prior to a provincial review board decision.
Osoyoos resident Joseph McArthur-Pereira, 28, was found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder (NCRMD) on single counts of arson in relation to inhabited property and mischief endangering life Thursday in provincial court in Penticton.
The incident, caught on surveillance video at the Osoyoos RCMP station on July 25 around 9:30 p.m., shows McArthur Pereira pouring a can of gasoline and then igniting it around one of the entrances to the station. A passerby, Mike Russo, used water containers he had on hand when driving by the detachment to extinguish the blaze. Another nearby witness reported to police she saw McArthur-Pereira set the detachment on fire, and staff at the local 7-Eleven confirmed to police McArthur-Pereira purchased five litres of gasoline prior to the incident.
Read more: WATCH: Arsonist ignites Osoyoos RCMP station
Judge Greg Koturbash agreed with the findings of the psychiatric reports which determined McArthur-Pereira is NCRMD. However, in a bail hearing immediately following that finding, Koturbash determined McArthur-Pereira was to remain in custody, in a hospital setting, prior to a decision by a provincial review board.
Under the Criminal Code, findings of NCRMD are sent to a provincial review board comprised of no less than five people, including at least one judge and a qualified psychiatrist to determine the best course forward.
The psychiatric reports found McArthur-Pereira has a longstanding drug addiction, mostly to methamphetamine, and this drug use exacerbates an underlying mental illness.
The report “goes on to say that at the time of the offence (McArthur-Pereira) is acutely aware of what he is doing, but he was not aware that he was doing anything wrong,” said James Pennington, defence counsel.
Summing up the report, Pennington said it found “Mr. McArthur-Pereira felt he was on a mission. A mission to liberate the souls of people who remain in the detachment. He had the idea firmly fixed that these people had died at the hands of the RCMP and the only way they could be set free was to burn the detachment down. He saw absolutely nothing wrong.”
Read more: Good Samaritan puts out fire at Osoyoos RCMP detachment
Pennington also noted after the fire was set, McArthur-Pereira had left to gather combustable materials with the intent of returning to add them to the fire.
Koturbash denied Pennington’s submission for McArthur-Pereira to stay with extended family in Penticton while awaiting a review board hearing, which must take place within 90 days.
“I appreciate that he is on medications, and has taken those medications voluntarily, but I am not satisfied on the information that I have heard before me that he is not still a risk to the community,” Koturbash said.
