Man who accidentally blew up parents’ home jailed 4 months
KITCHENER — Severe injuries suffered by a man who accidentally blew up his parents’ Waterloo home while trying to make cannabis oil helped lessen his sentence on Monday.
Lance Rees, 38, was sent to jail for four months after pleading guilty to arson in an explosion and fire that destroyed the home at 97 Christopher Dr. Damage was set at $444,000.
Rees was airlifted to a Hamilton hospital with third-degree burns to 35 per cent of his body. He was placed in a medically induced coma. His family was initially told Rees might die.
“Your actions brought upon you a violent and severe retribution that I’m told has lingering effects still,” Justice Craig Parry said. “You’ve already paid in part for your crimes with the injuries you received.”
Parry said he probably would have sentenced Rees to a longer jail term had he not suffered “catastrophic injuries.”
On April 30, 2016, the New Hamburg man was house-sitting his parents’ home when he used butane to try to extract oil from marijuana. The gas filled up the basement and exploded, possibly when the furnace “clicked on,” defence lawyer Jonathan Graham said.
The explosion and fire occurred in a residential area, just north of Bluevale Collegiate Institute, but no other homes were damaged. Damage to Rees’s par-
ents’ house was covered by insurance.
Graham asked for a sentence of 90 days in jail on weekends.
Crown prosecutor Michael Michaud sought six to nine months behind bars, saying a message of deterrence and denunciation must be sent.
“A custodial sentence is necessary to achieve the principles of general deterrence and denunciation,” the judge said.
“Anything short of a term in jail would fail to drive home the community’s condemnation of the conduct and fail to adequately deter other people from following your example.”
A presentence report concluded Rees, a first-time offender, is embarrassed by what he did and feels remorse.
“I’m very sorry for my actions that day,” Rees, the father of two young children, told the judge. He then hung his head and sobbed.
Graham previously said the explosion and fire left Rees with post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression. He now has a medical marijuana card allowing him to use pot to treat those problems.
“There’s some irony there, I suppose, that the substance that put him into trouble is also the substance that can help him in the future,” Graham said.
Parry said he doubts Rees will ever break the law again.
In addition to the jail sentence, Rees was ordered to do 40 hours of community service, and put on probation for one year.