The youth who pleaded guilty to setting fire to his rooming house on Springdale Street in St. John's last November has been sentenced to two years in custody and one year under community supervision.

Provincial court judge Colin Flynn emphasized a need for rehabilitation, saying the action was childlike, but was not deliberately intended to harm anyone.

Carlos Escobar Medina, 54, was killed when he was unable to escape the burning building.

The teen, who cannot be named, was 16 when he used lighter fluid to set his mattress on fire at the boarding house.

An agreed statement of facts revealed that the boy had consumed a dozen servings of beer and a couple of drinks of rum before setting the fire.

Immediately after he set the fire, though, he called 911 for help.

The court was told that the boy was overwhelmed when firefighters and police arrived on the scene, and told them what he had done.

"I started the fire and Carlos is dead," the teen told a Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officer.

The defence had argued that the teen was very remorseful, and that at the time of the fire he had been dealing with an undiagnosed mental illness, as well as drug and alcohol problems.

Court was told that the teen exploded with emotions when he saw that a girl he cared for had rejected him in favour of another boy.

The Crown and the defence had together asked for the boy to put on an intensive program for rehabilitation.