CORNWALL – A man who mistakenly set fire to a pickup truck outside a Cornwall bar last year while drunk and then tried to cover it up will serve his sentence for arson in the community.
Cody Shaw, 30, was given a one year conditional sentence plus one year probation during his sentencing hearing last month.
Shaw had pleaded guilty in January to a less serious charge of arson caused by negligence, avoiding a trial on a charge of arson.
In a statement of facts about the case, court heard how Shaw, who was extremely drunk, lit a cigarette while sitting in the driver’s seat behind Bill’s Sports Bar after putting a chainsaw and a can of gasoline in the cab of the truck. Within seconds, the pickup was in flames and was then fully engulfed in fire.
He then tried to cover up his mistake by banging on the back door of the Thirteenth Street bar in June 2019 where he exclaimed that “somebody from the bar just set my truck on fire,” according to the statement of facts.
Unbeknownst to him at the time, a neighbour had witnessed what had really happened.
In addition to the conditional sentence, which sets out mandatory rules such as reporting to a probation officer and keeping the peace, Shaw will have to perform 100 hours of community service.
He will also have to make $25,541 in restitution for the pickup truck, which was registered to his fiancee at the time, Kayla Lapierre.