Arson suspect accused of breaching release conditions
Ryanne Joseph Pineda, 35, of McLeod Hill, has been remanded for a second time in the span of three weeks
Only six days after he was released from custody on strict conditions, a Fredericton man accused of torching his own home last month was arrested again for allegedly violating those conditions.
Ryanne Joseph Pineda, 35, of Sunset Boulevard, appeared in Fredericton provincial court Tuesday by telephone from the Fredericton police station.
He was re-arrested Monday and charged with breaching the house-arrest provisions of his release order, which was ordered by provincial court Judge Lucie Mathurin on April 11.
Pineda tried to explain to Judge Natalie LeBlanc on Tuesday why he was outside his home, but his speech was slurred and sounded incoherent.
LeBlanc told him he should stop discussing the circumstances of his alleged offence and wait to discuss it in private with a defence lawyer.
Pineda said he’s represented by Fredericton lawyer Emily Cochrane.
Crown prosecutor Nina Johnsen objected to the defendant’s release Tuesday, and the judge remanded him pending a bail hearing, set for Thursday.
That would be Pineda’s second bail hearing this month.
Fredericton police arrested him the night of March 29, and he was remanded after being charged with arson. The count alleges he was negligent or reckless as to whether his home at 46 Sunset Blvd. was occupied when he set fire to it that same night.
The evidence presented at his April 11 bail hearing is subject to a publication ban until the case concludes, as are Mathurin’s reasons for granting a release order.
One of the conditions of his release was payment of a $10,000 surety to the court, and he was told that amount could be forfeited to the Crown if he were to violate the terms of his release order.
Among the conditions of that order were house arrest save for work and other limited exceptions, abstention from alcohol and drugs, no association with people with criminal records, and compliance checks at his home.
The arson case had been set over to May 2 for election of mode of trial and plea, but Pineda’s latest arrest will likely alter that plan.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.