Man who regrets burning Masonic buildings in BC receives 2.5 years with time served

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Minus the time served, Benjamin Kohlman’s sentence amounts to about two and a half years in prison.

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Man who regrets burning Masonic buildings in BC receives 2.5 years with time served Back to video

The 43-year-old pleaded guilty in September to arson charges for setting three fires an hour apart, two in North Vancouver and one in Vancouver.

Judge Laura Bakan said she accepted that Kohlman regretted his actions and offered him hope that he could deal with his addiction problems while in prison.

The court heard that the fires caused more than $ 2.5 million in damages, including the total loss of the Masonic salon in North Vancouver.

Both the Crown attorney and Kohlman’s defense attorney told the court that he targeted the Masonic buildings in an attempt to stop the “Illuminati using mind control” and the voices directed him to start the fires.

The crown’s attorney, Jonas Dow, had asked for a prison sentence of up to five years, while the defense asked for a sentence of two to three years.

Kohlman’s attorney, Jessica Dawkins, told the court that her client set the fire early in the morning so no one would get hurt.