Phoenix McGourty, here pictured at an Osoyoos Coyotes hockey game, pleaded guilty to one count of arson in relation to the May 1 fire. Photo by Jen Jensen - Click on photo for larger image

OSOYOOS TIMES-July 6, 2011

By Paul Everest - Osoyoos Times

Phoenix McGourty, 18, pleaded guilty to one count of arson on June 29 in relation to the May 1 fire that destroyed two businesses on Main Street.
A second arson charge and a Youth Criminal Justice Act charge were stayed by the Crown.
McGourty is scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 3 for a pre-sentencing hearing.
The fire that McGourty set broke out at roughly 8:30 a.m. on May 1 and destroyed the Osoyoos Christian Ministry thrift store and the Osoyoos Dollar Smart Discount located in the 8500 block of Main Street.
McGourty, who was arrested that night, had volunteered in the ministry thrift store by playing the piano for customers.
He is still in custody.
The fire is believed to have started in the basement of the building where the dollar store and thrift store was housed and it, along with firefighting activities, also damaged the neighbouring CIBC bank, Gonzalez Denture Clinic and Lakeside Travel.
Firefighters from Osoyoos and Oliver were on the scene until roughly 5 p.m. that day to battle the blaze.
Iris DeVries, a pastor at the Osoyoos Christian Ministry and owner of the ministry’s church and thrift store, said she was “surprised” to hear that McGourty had admitted to starting the fire.
The day of the blaze, McGourty stood beside her as she watched her business burn to the ground.
He even gave her a hug, she said.
“How could he do that? To pretend he didn’t do anything at all?”
DeVries said McGourty, who also performed the national anthem at Osoyoos Coyotes hockey games and attended Osoyoos Secondary School, approached the ministry about a week before the fire and asked if he could play the piano to entertain customers and gain exposure for his musical talents.
He had played the piano in the thrift store almost every day leading up to the fire, she said, adding that he had been living with foster parents in town.
She said neither she, nor her husband, had any quarrels with the suspect.
DeVries said she learned of McGourty’s plea from a friend who, like a number of other people in town, received letters from the teen in recent weeks.
She is now trying to figure out what could have triggered an urge in McGourty to torch her store and she wonders if there was anything she could have done to prevent the arson.
DeVries said she still hasn’t heard how the fire was started but added that she was aware that a younger boy had watched McGourty light the fire and it was reportedly that boy who informed police that McGourty was responsible for the blaze.
The contents of the church and store were not insured and DeVries said nearly $20,000 worth of goods, including an antique piano valued at $12,000, were lost in the blaze.
She and her husband are operating the ministry out of their home but they are still looking for a place to set up a new thrift store.
Darlene Dorion, who owned the Dollar Smart Discount with her now-deceased husband, Lionel, was unavailable for comment.
At the time of the fire, she said she had owned the business for five years.
Last month, she sought Osoyoos council’s permission to temporarily set up a shipping container on the site of her destroyed business to sell inflatable toys that had been purchased for the store by her husband.
Dorion’s plan was to display the toys on the permanent fence that now stands out front of the fire site.
Council turned down her request due to a risk that the Town will receive many more applications from businesses that want to profit from the high tourism season and set up a temporary storefront.
Osoyoos Volunteer Fire Department Chief Rick Jones said he would not comment on what investigators believe to be the cause of the fire until McGourty is sentenced.
He did say, however, that what investigators determined to be a cause while searching through the ruins of the building differs from what McGourty told police.
Dave Ferguson, the deputy fire commissioner for British Columbia, said one of his staff members assisted Jones and local RCMP in investigating the fire.
It was determined that the fire did start in a crawlspace beneath the thrift store but investigators could not figure out what materials were used to start the fire since they were incinerated in the blaze.
Ferguson said McGourty did share information with investigators about how he started the fire, but that information could not be substantiated and Ferguson said he could not share the information that McGourty provided.
He did say, however, that the value of the damage to the Main Street businesses and the items destroyed inside the lost building was estimated at $1.2 million.
The building was insured and belongs to Jack Sandhu.
He said he still doesn’t know if he’ll rebuild at the site and added that he had to pay for security which remained at the site while investigators combed through the ruins as well as safety fences to keep people away.
Sandhu said he bought the 641- square-metre building five years ago for $445,000.
Rudy Miller owned the building for more than 43 years and said the building was built in 1942 and he sold it to Sandhu in 2007.
Jones said that McGourty, who has also gone by the names Phoenix Caine Lonsdale and Raymond Seillo Lonsdale, has a history of setting fires, but because he was under the age of 18, details of those fires cannot be published.
He also has had a difficult life, according to an email the Osoyoos Times received from a woman who identified herself as McGourty’s cousin the day before the fire.
In the email, the woman said McGourty “was born a child of rape and drug abuse.”
“He has been in and out of foster care since the age of 18 months,” the woman wrote. “He’s spent time in rehab and juvenile detention for mistakes he has made.”
DeVries said that in the end, she feels that McGourty needs treatment for the disease he’s battling and she hopes he receives it.
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