Psychiatric assessment ordered in arson case

A judge has ordered a fresh psychiatric assessment of a Penticton teenager who admitted to starting a fire that destroyed four homes.

Sydney Leer, 18, pleaded guilty to one count of arson related to the October 2016 fire at the Cascade Gardens townhouse complex and was due to receive her sentence on March 6.

That hearing was adjourned near its conclusion, however, when she asked for a new lawyer and made some bizarre comments to the judge.

“You tell me who was telling me, who was ordering me to light that house on fire. I would love to know,” she said.

“I want to know my birth certificate, where I was born, how old I am and my name,” she added later.

Norm Yates, who’s representing Leer, applied on Friday to be removed from the case, but Judge Greg Koturbash instead ordered her sent for a new 30-day psychiatric assessment and asked Yates to stay on at least until the report is complete.

Leer underwent a similar assessment following her arrest to determine if she was not criminally responsible on account of a mental disorder. That process determined she was indeed fit to stand trial.

The new assessment will investigate whether her condition has deteriorated in the four months since that she’s been incarcerated at Alouette Correctional Centre for Women in Maple Ridge.

Court heard at the March 6 session that Leer has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, and that she had been struggling in the days leading up to the blaze, which was set in the basement of the home she shared with her mother.

Crown counsel Kurt Froehlich said Leer’s mother called 911 just before the fire started to report she was worried about her daughter’s

“concerning behaviour” following her release earlier that day from the psychiatric ward at Penticton Regional Hospital.

“During the drive home, Ms. Leer had grabbed the steering wheel . . . and attempted to direct the car into oncoming traffic,” Froehlich said.

No one was hurt in the fire, damage from which insurance companies pegged at $1.2 million.

Froehlich called for a prison sentence in the range of four to five years, while Yates was interrupted by his client before he was able to make a recommendation.