[Chad]

Student charged in Brandon Hall arson

As reported by Jackson Hayes of The Hamilton Spectator, police have charged Emerson Pardoe of Scarborough with arson endangering life and arson to property. He is a 19-year old first-year student who lived in Brandon Hall.

Update from The Spec: "Accused Mac arsonist weeps as he gets bail"

He was held overnight and released this afternoon on $50,000 bail and ordered to stay with his parents in Scarborough.
He must have no contact with any students or staff at McMaster. Pardoe appeared extremely upset during his hearing, weeping, pulling his brown hoodie over his head and holding his face in his hands as he rocked forward almost to his knees.

Excerpt from the Daily News:

Additional counseling is available for Brandon residents through the Centre for Student Development [email protected] (ext. 24711). In addition, over the next few days Residence staff and Community Assistants (CAs) who are living with students at area hotels will continue to provide ongoing support and information.

McMaster is thankful that police were able to complete their investigation so quickly. Students were very helpful and co-operative in this regard and their assistance is greatly appreciated.

Now that an arrest has been made, we hope students will be able to fully refocus on their studies.

The University continues to do everything it can to expedite the restoration of Brandon Hall for occupancy as quickly as possible. Please continue to monitor the Daily News website for updates and information regarding the restoration. Any questions you may have can be sent to [email protected]

Support Fund Started

A Brandon Hall Fire Support Fund has been started and you can read more about it on Facebook. In connection with McMaster Alumni's "[email protected]" initiative, you can make a donation which will go directly to support Brandon Hall students.

Category: University's greatest needs > Sub Cat: University's greatest needs - General > Allocation: Brandon Hall Fund

Any Donation over $10 comes with a tax receipt.

[DannyV]

Stupid stupid stupid.

[sjager]

There goes any chance of a future for that guy. I bet no University will ever accept him again, unless he pays A LOT of money.

[adrian]

Originally Posted by sjager

There goes any chance of a future for that guy. I bet no University will ever accept him again, unless he pays A LOT of money.

Check out his facebook page...lol...he got dissed by so many people

[RoyK]

Originally Posted by sjager

There goes any chance of a future for that guy. I bet no University will ever accept him again, unless he pays A LOT of money.

Not even; no university or any other educational institution will probably accept him for that matter. Would you want an ex-arsonist on your campus, just because he paid you a lot of extra money? Just imagine if he had killed someone during the fire :/

[Chris L]

More news from The Spec: Link

[lorend]

Originally Posted by adrian

Check out his facebook page...lol...he got dissed by so many people

Just a word of caution to everyone: DON'T go posting stuff on his wall...you can probably get in trouble for that as well.

I mean, yeah, the kid did something really stupid and dangerous...but he's been caught and being charged with two counts of arson. Let the authorities handle what happens from now on. Flaming him won't do anything to help the situation.

[adrian]

Originally Posted by lorend

Just a word of caution to everyone: DON'T go posting stuff on his wall...you can probably get in trouble for that as well.

I mean, yeah, the kid did something really stupid and dangerous...but he's been caught and being charged with two counts of arson. Let the authorities handle what happens from now on. Flaming him won't do anything to help the situation.

Quite right...was not promoting flaming this guy, but rather observing a strange phenomenon: he was quite the unremarkable individual till recently...he probably hasn't had time to go to a computer and to take his facebook page down since he did it an got caught.

[wrangler]

shoulda have put his facebook privacy settings higher

[lawleypop]

Seriously, am I the only person who would leave my child (if he/she were that dumb) and not pay 50k bail so that they can realize how stupid they are?

He could have killed someone - that's all there is to it. Put him in jail, that's where he deserves to be.

[stevennevets]

so i just looked at the criminal code of canada... check it out:

Arson — disregard for human life

433. Every person who intentionally or recklessly causes damage by fire or explosion to property, whether or not that person owns the property, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for life where

(a) the person knows that or is reckless with respect to whether the property is inhabited or occupied; or

(b) the fire or explosion causes bodily harm to another person.

R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 433; 1990, c. 15, s. 1.

Arson — damage to property

434. Every person who intentionally or recklessly causes damage by fire or explosion to property that is not wholly owned by that person is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.

R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 434; 1990, c. 15, s. 1.

I'm pretty sure he's being charged under those two offences... the first i forget if drunkeness is a defence (i'm assuming he was impaired) but for the second he's almost certainly guilty, if it was him. reckless is definitely him, but again only if drunkenness isn't a defence...

arson is a very serious crime...

[kokosas]

Hey guys,
I know you all probably realize this but I just want to stress this:

DO NOT threaten him, even though he deserves it and worse. Don't post on his facebook, don't send him emails, don't call. Let the law deal with it, he WILL get what he deserves.

DO NOT try to find him, if you do happen to run into him, (although he's not allowed on campus-suspension) walk away. I know that's a hard thing to do, but inflicting any violence on him is not going to solve anything, it will only make you feel good until you're charged with assault.

Be thankful to the Hamilton Police and McMaster Security Services who put in hours upon hours of man power to help the students and solve the case.

[lawleypop]

Originally Posted by stevennevets

so i just looked at the criminal code of canada... check it out:



I'm pretty sure he's being charged under those two offences... the first i forget if drunkeness is a defence (i'm assuming he was impaired) but for the second he's almost certainly guilty, if it was him. reckless is definitely him, but again only if drunkenness isn't a defence...

arson is a very serious crime...

I remember learning about this in grade 12 law (briefly) so someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Drunkeness can be used as a defense if it can be proven that you were so drunk that you lacked any sort of judgement and you lacked the mens rea. Being drunk to an extreme point is a defense if you can prove that you had absolutely no intention of doing it.
Of course, drunkeness can't be used as a defense if you caused pain to another person, in this case, he did.

And I don't believe he was drunk to this extreme....

So no, he can't use drunkenness as a defence.

Just a question... he's suspended.. but that means he's expelled, right? Nothing would baffle me more if he wasn't..

[kokosas]

I don't think they can officially expel him until he's been convicted, he's only been charged right now

[sdfgiulahdfl]

I would suggest any sort of speculation be identified as such - no one knows if he was or wasn't drunk..... (I'm not trying to defend this gent, but due process is there for a reason, so let's allow it to do it's job before we start making assumptions on things we have no clue about.)