Man sentenced to 5 years for role in deadly firebombing

A 28-year-old man was sentenced Wednesday to spend five years in prison for his role in a firebombing that killed a 14-year-old boy.

Riel Mitchell didn't break into the home on Mountain Avenue on Dec. 4, 2007, or set the fire that killed Nathan Starr, but his participation in the crime was enough to earn his conviction, said provincial court Judge Wanda Garreck.

Court heard that Mitchell encouraged co-accused Dylan Atkinson to take revenge on a person in the home. The two men are alleged by police to have gang connections, and the fire was part of a drug-related gang dispute, court was told.

Starr was not the intended target and didn't even live at the home. He had been sleeping over at the home of his girlfriend and died of smoke inhalation after being trapped on the third flood or the house. He was rushed to hospital but did not survive.

Atkinson, 17, was originally charged with second-degree murder but agreed in March to plead guilty to the reduced charge of manslaughter.

He was sentenced as an adult which means his name is no longer protectedunder theYouth Criminal Justice Act to seven years in prison.

Two police officers patrolling the North End area spotted an individual throwing something at the homemoments before the front porch erupted in flames.

Const. Thane Chartrand and Const. Lindsay Cancilla called for backup and directed them to where the suspects fled, then returned to the house where they helped 10 people ranging in age from nine months to 66 yearsexit through a rear window.

The home's front door was blocked by the fire and the back door had been boarded up to keep out the winter cold.

Police dogs tracked the suspects to a home on Aberdeen Avenue, a few blocks away.