OWNER ACQUITTED AFTER MECHANIC DIES REMOVING GAS TANK

A former Halifax autobody shop owner has been acquitted of criminal negligence causing the death of a mechanic after a van caught fire as he was using a cutting torch to remove a gas tank. Peter Kempton was working under a Dodge Caravan at Your Mechanic Auto Corner in Dartmouth in September 2013 when it became engulfed in flames. Shop owner Elie Phillip Hoyeck was acquitted Friday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court after Justice James Chipman found Kempton made choices that contributed to his own death. .