Senior gets probation for setting Port Colborne family home ablaze

A Port Colborne senior who set the family home ablaze after the breakdown of his 40-plus-year marriage has been placed on probation for three years. Johanes Bliek, 66, appeared in Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines on Tuesday for sentencing on a charge of arson which assistant Crown attorney Sylvia Clermont said “divided the family completely.” Fire crews were called to a home on Pinecrest Road in the city’s rural east side in August 2016. An investigation by the Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office determined the blaze, which caused an estimated $200,000 damage, had been deliberately set. Defence counsel Kim Vanderlee said her client was suffering from an undiagnosed mental illness at the time of the fire. She said the incident “blew the whole family out of the water.” “It’s a very sad situation,” she said, adding Bliek is now estranged from several members of his family including his spouse and grandchildren. He also must contend with a $19,000 bill he received from Port Colborne Fire and Emergency Services. Judge Tory Colvin said the crime was “another example of mental illness overlapping into the criminal courts.” While a conviction for arson “normally attracts a period of incarceration,” the judge said the fact Bliek was suffering from an undiagnosed mental illness at the time of the offence must be taken into consideration at sentencing. In addition to probation for three years, Bliek was ordered not to have any firearms in his possession for 10 years.