Fight with boyfriend, drugs, motivated arson that destroyed church, court hears

She burned a Surrey church and torched a townhome while people were inside, but she had no connection to either place.

On Tuesday, a B.C. court heard that Kathleen Panek was high on drugs, and in the case of the church arson, upset after a fight with her boyfriend over their dog, when she caused so much destruction last year.

“She enacted revenge on her boyfriend against innocent, unconnected victims,” said Crown Counsel Michael Fortino during a sentencing hearing for Panek, who has pleaded guilty to two arson-related offences.

In July of last year, surveillance video captured Panek igniting door decorations at St. George Coptic Orthodox Church. That fire wasn’t large. But five days later, after another argument with her boyfriend, she came back. And this time, she started a blaze that destroyed the church building.

“It’s completely devastating. The church for our community is where our services happen, a vast majority of them,” explained Steven Faltas, who is a board member at St. George Coptic Orthodox Church.

A few months earlier, in March, Panek also started a fire at the Surrey townhouse where Lorraine Dubuc lives.

“Nobody with a conscience, nobody with heart would do something like that,” Debuc said.

Dubuc believes if she had not stayed up late that evening and noticed something wrong, she would have died in the fire.

“I would have lost my life,” she said.

Fortunately, no one was injured in either blaze.

The church fire happened at a time when a number of churches in Canada were vandalized or burned after the discovery of unmarked graves at former residential schools.

But Crown said Panek’s crimes were not motivated by hate, bias or discrimination.

“Some of us were skeptical initially, given the time and the circumstances when the fire happened, (that) this was a hate-related crime,” said Faltas.

“But it’s obvious from today’s proceedings and the evidence brought forward it seems to not be related to a hate crime.”

Fortino told a provincial court judge in Surrey that Panek watched the fires, but did nothing to help.

Panek, who appeared by video in court, apologized for her actions, saying she was “truly sorry” and that it “will never happen again.”

Crown is asking for a four-year jail sentence. Defence wants 18 to 24 months.

Sentencing will take place at a future court date.