Man facing up to two years in jail, $730K in restitution after burning down Sarnia-area cottage

Barry Bentley and Trish Mann-Bentley planned on making the charming cottage they’d bought in Lambton Shores their forever home.

Shortly after selling their Sarnia home in the fall of 2021, the 60-year-old couple moved most of their personal belongings, including cherished photographs and mementos, there and were looking forward to starting their new permanent lakeside lifestyle after returning from a trip to Florida in late January 2022. But a fire on Jan. 20, 2022, completely destroyed the Kettle Point cottage, their belongings, and their future plans.

“This was all taken away from us in a split-second decision,” Mann-Bentley wrote in a letter read Tuesday by a prosecutor in a Sarnia courtroom. “Everything is gone because of his decisions and actions.”

The fire, it turns out, was deliberately set by Andrew Fickling. The 30-year-old man, with ties to nearby Goderich and London but with no connections to the Bentleys, had been reported as a missing person in the Lambton Shores area the day before the blaze amid concerns over his mental health.

As the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation fire department fought the fire that Thursday morning, Fickling, with a black substance smeared on his face, walked up to an Anishinabek police officer at the scene. The officer asked Fickling how they could help him.

“The accused responded, ‘I’m the one that set the fire,’” the court heard.

Fickling was arrested and charged with arson along with breaking and entering to commit an indictable offense. He pleaded guilty in May only to the arson charge – his first criminal conviction – but his sentencing was adjourned to Tuesday to get a pre-sentence report focusing on Fickling’s lifelong struggles with mental health.

During the sentencing hearing, the Crown asked for between one and two years in jail plus probation and restitution – perhaps as high as nearly $730,000 – while defense lawyer Ben Scholten argued six months in jail was more in the range based on other similar arson cases.

But he also added the judge should consider house arrest as, in his view, this was a case with exceptional circumstances. It wasn’t a crime committed for profit or by a deranged pyromaniac, Scholten continued, but by someone who was struggling mentally.

Justice Krista Lynn Leszczynski will decide Fickling’s fate later this month.

Mann-Bentley – she and her husband were both in court Tuesday – wrote in her letter she’s also been struggling with her mental health, notably depression, in the wake of losing their memories and a lifelong dream for which they’d worked hard.

“It was going to be in our family for generations and now it is gone,” she wrote. “It has been traumatizing and life-altering for ourselves and our children and grandchildren.”

Insurance has only covered a fraction of their losses and it’s been an unbearable experience, Mann-Bentley said. A financial-loss document filed in court showed the couple was out nearly $730,000, a conservative estimate.

Scholten conceded to the judge restitution will be part of his client’s award, but argued it’s unclear how much of that figure will be his responsibility based on insurance claims.

“Restitution in the full amount for Mr. Fickling would be significant. Obviously very difficult given his circumstances,” he said, noting his client hasn’t worked for a while amid mental-health and homeless struggles.

Leszczynski asked for more detailed documents when the case returns to court later this month.

[email protected]

@ObserverTerry