Racial Taunts: African Immigrant

Supervised Probation Dept: The teen pleaded guilty on Friday to arson endangering life for what could have been a deadly disaster. His mother, father and three young siblings were all asleep at the time of the blaze and were forced to scramble to safety. His father suffered burns to his head, while his mother spent five days in hospital after jumping from a second-floor window. The children, aged five, eight and 12, escaped serious injury. More than $200,000 in damage was caused, according to Winnipeg Free Press. Crown and defence lawyers, along with the teen's family, presented a startling explanation how an otherwise law-abiding, respectful young man from Sierra Leone went from a model student to criminal seemingly overnight and a 15-year-old African immigrant was subjected to repeated bullying and racial taunts at his Winnipeg school in the weeks before he burned his house down in a fit of anger. "Very easily their lives could have been snuffed out by what you did," said provincial court Judge Marva Smith. She sentenced the boy to five months of time served, six more months of deferred custody and three years of supervised probation following a joint recommendation. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.