Arsonist a 'significant threat'

A man who set fire to a Kelowna home in the summer of 2019 remains in custody after being found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.

Brenden Gerelle was arrested near Galbraith place in Rutland on the evening of Aug. 30, 2019 after a nearby home went up in flames. Gerelle had been living at the carriage home that was was set on fire. He later told police that his landlord had “put something on my computer, so I burned his house down.”

Gerelle admitted to police that he was also responsible for three other vehicle fires in the area over the previous three months.

Following the completion of a psychiatric assessment in 2020 that determined Gerelle was psychotic at the time and suffering from various delusions, a judge ruled in February 2021 that Gerelle was not criminally responsible for the arson due to his mental illness.

Following the court's finding, the Review Board initially released Gerelle from custody, granting him a conditional discharge and allowing him to live at Harvey House, a supervised community residence in Kelowna run by the John Howard Society.

But in May of 2022, Gerelle's psychiatrist “observed a deterioration in his mental state,” according to a Review Board decision, and Gerelle tested positive for a synthetic stimulant. He was admitted to Kelowna General Hospital under the Mental Health Act and then sent to the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam.

The following month, the Review Board ordered he be held in custody at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital for a year, and this order was extended for another year in June 2023. This past June, the Review Board ordered another year-long detention for Gerelle, concluding that he still poses a “significant threat to the public.”

Gerelle has been diagnosed as schizophrenic and bipolar disorder and he has a history of substance use dating back to when he was 14 years old.

While he was living at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in 2023, he smuggled drugs into his residence and overdosed.

One doctor who assessed him noted that Gerelle would likely relapse into substance abuse and psychosis if he was released without supervision. But the doctor noted that over the past six to eight months, Gerelle has “gained awareness into his addiction and mental health issues.”

From October to December 2023, Gerelle lived at the Northern British Columbia Therapeutic Community in Prince George, and a counsellor wrote positively about Gerelle's motivations and actions while living there. But Gerelle was forced to return to the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital prematurely after a contract between the hospital and the NBCTC ended.

Gerelle told the Review Boards that the medications he now takes are very helpful and that without them, he “wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Gerelle will remain at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital through until June 2025, when the Review Board will reconsider his possible release. His current conditions allow for escorted and unescorted visits outside of the hospital, along with overnight stays in the community, at the discretion of the hospital's director.