Warning: This article discusses mental illness and psychosis and may be triggering for some readers

The Supreme Court of BC has ruled that a man from Kelowna is not criminally responsible for starting a fire in his apartment building in June 2021 according to a recently published decision.

On July 15, Madam Justice Ker delivered her judgment and the reasons for the ruling over a video conference call with the accused Brian Edmund Spencer, who remains in the custody of a Forensic Psychiatric Centre. 

Spencer has been battling severe mental illness for decades and has been diagnosed with a schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type. Spencer's family has stated that his mental well-being was altered after being involved in a motor vehicle incident at the age of 19 in 1973 that left him in a coma for 10 days.

Since 1973, Spencer has been in custody of B.C. Psychiatric Facilities several times and has previously been found not criminally responsible for indictable charges including sexual assault and the attempted murder of his father and step mother. 

The events that led to Spencer's arrest on June 3, 2021 began with a fire alarm that sounded at 5:30 a.m., at an

The building was immediately evacuated, except for Spencer, who refused to leave his apartment.

A firefighter delivered evidence in the trial that upon arrival at the scene he ascended a ladder to Spencer's unit, broke the window and identified that the blaze was confined to the bedroom. The firefighter then doused the blaze with water, rendering it "under control" and descended the ladder. Shortly after, emergency response crews noticed the fire began to grow again. 

The firefighter re-ascended the ladder and doused the flames again, knocking it down.

The fire then grew again and the firefighter went back up the ladder to spray more water on the blaze.

This cycle of extinguishing and re-ignition happened approximately seven times.

While the firefighter did not see the fire being re-ignited, he told the court it "appeared to be consistent with someone pouring an accelerant on it, adding something to make it grow."

Justice Ker ruled that Spencer is the one who is most likely to have started the blaze, but because of his mental illness, he will not be held criminally responsible for his actions. Instead, he was found as not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder (NCRMD) for the indictable offence. 

In her reasons for the judgment, Justice Ker relies on testimony from police who describe "bizarre behaviour exhibited" by Spencer on the day of the incident. In addition to the fire and heavy smoke, the apartment was covered in blood as Spencer had a self-inflicted neck wound.

Police told the court that Spencer appeared unbothered by the heavy black smoke billowing out of his apartment and made no effort to seek clean air.

The police said that Spencer did not acknowledge their presence or efforts to rescue him from the burning apartment and did not obey their orders. Spencer also ignored their use of pepper spray, gas pellets, a taser and sponge bullets. 

The Emergency Response Team had to be called to aid in extracting Spencer. The team had to use physical blows to Spencer's face to get him to drop the knife he was holding and remove him from the building.

The opinion of the forensic psychiatrist who testified in the case is that Spencer was in an "acutely psychotic state," at the time of the incident. 

Being in a state of psychosis means that a person has lost touch with reality and is unable to differentiate between what is real and what is a delusion or hallucination. 

"Spencer was unable to rationally contemplate the wrongfulness of his actions when he ignited and reignited the fire and when he physically resisted the officers," ruled Justice Ker.  

He will continue to remain in the care of a Forensic Psychiatric Facility and Justice Ker has deferred the matter of Spencer's continued care and monitoring to the Review Board.