Ottawa man gets 11-year prison term for setting fires
Last Updated: Friday, October 24, 2008 | 10:36 AM ET
CBC News
An Ottawa man was sentenced to 11 years in prison Thursday for twice breaking into, and setting a series of fires in a downtown building where a U.S. defence contract office is located.
Robert Patrick Gill, 31, pleaded guilty to setting the fires, which caused more than $7 million in damage to the building.
Gill told the court he had no idea what businesses were located in the building.
His lawyer, Geraldine Castle-Trudel, said Gill's actions were not an act of terrorism or espionage, as had been speculated in the days after the break-ins and fires.
The fires were set on Sept. 15 and Oct. 1 at a four-storey commercial building on the northeast corner of Bank and Somerset streets.
The Sept. 15 fire started on the second and fourth floors of the building, which has shops and restaurants on the main floor and tenants on upper floors, including the High Commission for Bangladesh and the U.S. Defence Contract Management Agency.
The Oct. 1 fire broke out on the fourth floor but was contained to the office of the Canadian Co-operative Association.
