The man who tried to burn the door of a local hotel was ordered to undergo a psychological assessment after a series of increasingly strange run-ins with the police.
Randolph Dionne admitted to police that on Sept. 25 he attempted and failed to burn the door of a suite at the Bowmont Motel, and was ordered to undergo a psychological assessment as he faces an arson charge.
Dionne was attempting to locate a stolen mountain bike inside a hotel room and was unable to retrieve the bike. He poured accelerant on the door of the hotel room and lit it on fire. The fire only burnt the accelerant on the door, not damaging the door or suite.
Dionne admitted to starting to fire when a police officer spoke with him afterwards. Dionne was arrested and made an admission statement with the RCMP and was arrested and released on a promise to appear.
Since his release Dionne failed to appear in court and was involved in numerous police contact saying that he was being threatened among other incidents.
Dionne had no police contact from January and August of 2015, however from Aug. 24 onward he has had 19 incidents involving the police.
“A large portion of them deal with mental health issues,” Crown counsel Nashina Devji said. On Sept. 9 “Mr. Dionne was attempting to intimidate the owner of a store, on (September) 22. He called 911 numerous time via text. Saying he was being threatened, he asked that they deliver cigarettes to him,” Devji said.
He also told police he was paranoid and that people were after him. Dionne’s defence counsel, James Pennington, said his client has a psychiatrist, but not a mental health worker.
“I’m concerned about him as well,” Pennington said.
Dionne, who is now in custody, will return to court on Nov. 4 after a psychological assessment is completed.
