Contractor charged with arson in condo fire gets June court date

A contractor charged with arson after a massive 2014 fire destroyed a Windermere condo project under construction will appear before a judge next month.

Eric Gould and another man were arrested in October 2014 after the March 15, 2014, blaze that razed a four-storey condo development being built near 10 Avenue and 173 Street.

Gould, 31, a framing contractor on the project, was to appear in court Wednesday afternoon. However, the matter was put over to June 22 to allow the defence additional time to review the charges. Gould did not appear in court. He faces a string of charges tied to a variety of incidents between 2010 and 2014, according to information provided to the court. The charges include arson related to the March 2014 condo fire; a July 2014 incident where more than $5,000 of construction material was stolen; and a 2011 incident in Mulhurst, Alta., that involved a building damaged in a fire.

Jeremy Thibert, a framer who worked for and lived with Gould, was sentenced in September 2015 to two years behind bars after he pleaded guilty to charges of arson and conspiracy to commit arson.

Thibert told court at the time of his trial he was offered $6,000 to set the fire after Gould’s company’s work on the project was found to be deficient. The fire caused around $6.5 million in damage, but no one was injured.

Gould, Thibert and Gould’s Framing & Construction Inc., are also facing a multimillion-dollar lawsuit from Cove Properties, the developer of the project destroyed in the fire.

The developer is seeking $6.6 million in losses and damages in addition to $500,000 in punitive damages.

According to a statement of defence in the civil claim, Thibert was “bullied and coerced” into lighting the fire for insurance purposes.

Statements of claim and defence contain information that has not been proven in court.