Kym Arkel was sentenced recently for lighting a fire which caused substantial damage to the Northfield Rd. Tim Hortons location last summer. (Nanaimo RCMP)

By Ian Holmes

disruptive fire

Prolific offender jailed for igniting fire at Nanaimo Tim Hortons location

Sep 5, 2023 | 11:41 AM

NANAIMO — A well known troubled offender is scheduled to spend a further five months behind bars for setting fire to the Northfield Rd. Tim Hortons last summer.

Kym Robert Arkell, 38, was handed a nearly two year jail sentence and three years probation following a recent sentencing hearing.

With credit for jail time already served taken into account, Arkell had a further 150 days to serve behind bars following his Aug. 23 hearing in provincial court.

This past April, Arkell pleaded guilty to arson damaging property in relation to the damaging early morning fire which occurred on Aug. 2, 2022.

The fire caused considerable damage to the exterior and interior of the business, forcing its closure for exactly one year, re-opening on Aug. 3, 2023.

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Arkell ignited a fire outside a central Nanaimo Tim Hortons location, which shut the store down for about a year. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Police reported a suspect lit fire to a garbage can in front of the coffee shop, which then spread to the building’s exterior and caused water damage inside.

An adjoining unoccupied business building also sustained water damage.

The offender was arrested and charged two days after the incident and has been in custody ever since.

His probationary obligations include completing counseling services as directed by his probation officer, as well as orders to report to forensic psychiatric services for intake and treatment.

Arkell must also take medications prescribed to him.

For the next three years Arkell must stay at least 200 meters away from the Northfield Rd., Boxwood Rd. area and is banned from all Nanaimo Tim Hortons locations.

He legally can’t posses any weapons or devices which could ignite fires during the course of his probationary period.

Arkell was also ordered to make a $2,500 restitution payment for the Tim Hortons fire and comply with a DNA order.

The offender has significant mental health and addiction issues and has suffered from homelessness.

In June of last year Arkell was sentenced to time served for threatening to kill a Country Club Centre employee after allegedly shoplifting from the Dollar Tree.

Arkell removed candy he was concealing and began walking out of the store while hurling verbal abuse toward the intervening employee, court was told at the time.

As part of the same sentencing hearing in which Arkel pleaded guilty to five charges he admitted to igniting a fire in the foyer of a Parksville bank in Dec. 2021.

Arkell was also convicted for a pair of similar high profile daytime incidents in 2017 and 2018 near Altrusa Venture Park at Beban Park in which he pulled a knife and threatened to kill the responding Nanaimo RCMP officer.

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ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes