Winnipeg youth gets probation for setting shed at former football field on fire

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WINNIPEG — A Winnipeg teenager has been sentenced to two years probation for setting a dangerous and costly fire at the former home of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

The fire at a storage shed at Canad Inns Stadium in April 2013 caused about $300,000 in damage.

Defence lawyer Darren Sawchuk says the 17-year-old accused was among a group of young people who broke into the shed and while horsing around, kicked over a can of gasoline.

Sawchuk says the others encouraged the accused to light a fire and he succumbed to the peer pressure.

The boy suffered burns to his face but there were no other injuries.

Court was told the boy is “low-functioning” and has long suffered with mental health issues and severe anxiety that resulted in him leaving school in Grade 7.

[Winnipeg Free Press]