While a incendiary continued to set fire to hay phrases in western Saskatchewan last summer, he comments that a voluntary firefighter made his colleagues raised his suspicions.
That finally led the police to focus their attention on Logan Sieben, a 25 -year volunteer in the Macklin Fire Department in the city, about 225 kilometers west of Saskatoon.
At the Sieben sentence hearing last week in the Provincial Court of Unity, Corona Danie Cilliers prosecutor described how, as the Fire Department attended the fires of Hay Bale, Sieben would say things like: “The area has no cameras”, or “There are two paths inside and outside”.
Police interrogated Sieben, who initially admitted to having started three fires. Finally, he accepted the responsibility of starting 30 fires for a period from July 29 to August 26, 2024, Cilliers said.
“It is complicated because there is some planning involved in what Mr. Sieben has done here, but due to his experience … he probably knew the scope of the danger, much more than I would do,” said Cilliers, and added that Sieben always seemed to be close to the vicinity of the fires and none of them extended.
Cilliers advocated a sentence that consists of a six -month conditional prayer order, which will be delivered in the community, followed by 12 months of probation. He cited the large amount of fires and breach of confidence of Sieben to the community, as a voluntary firefighter, as aggravating factors for the judge to consider.
Mental health problems
Defensor lawyer George Green advocated a sentence of the same length, but in the form of 18 -month probation in the same terms proposed by the crown, including community service and mental health support.
Sieben has had problems with mental health problems since he was a young man, Green said, and his mental health “received a great recession” in April 2024, which led to the incendiary spree in the summer.
“He was recorded at the North Battleford hospital to seek help and in October 2024 he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder 1,” Green said.
Green said that Sieben has no criminal record, has assumed the responsibility of crimes, has received help and has not had any problem since then, after all his liberation conditions “to the letter.”
“Logan has sought help for his mental health, which, certainly, his mental health led to this crime,” said Green.
Green cited previous cases in which other criminals lent fires to houses, vehicles and even a fire department, and received probation sentences.
“I don’t want to give Logan credit to know how to contain a fire, but … these were hay bales and all were contained and they didn’t spread,” Green said.
Question of restitution
The crown asked the judge to impose a restitution order for $ 76,650, the amount associated with the response of the Macklin Fire Department to the fires. However, Cilliers acknowledged that he does not know how much of that he was covered by the insurance, or how many RMS or owners have paid their invoices.
Green said that when the amount of restitution is not “clear as the glass”, the civil courts must be left to resolve it, so a restitution order would not be appropriate here.
Judge Ian Mokoruk said he needed time to consider all the information and postpone the case to July 21 for a sentence decision.
