A man serving a federal sentence for setting a fire that led to the death of a noted member of Prince George's Sikh community is out on statutory release for a second time.
In a Parole Board of Canada decision issued April 17, Frank William Edward Marion, 57, was given statutory release roughly eight months after his first chance at it was revoked because he failed a drug test.
Marion remains a concern for the board and a series of conditions were imposed.
A halfway house in the Lower Mainland has accepted him, but he will not get any leave privileges and must return home at night.
He also must continue to participate in programming and take prescription medication for issued related to mental health and a brain injury - an order he failed to live up to during his first release.
Parole board spokeswoman Lisa Saether said statutory release is mandated by the Corrections and Conditional Release Act and while statutory release can be revoked and an offender returned to prison, the law requires that a new statutory release be calculated when that happens.
"The PBC will then impose conditions on the next recalculated statutory release."
Marion was sentenced in July 2014 to a further six years and three months for a January 2012 house fire and the subsequent death of Jagdev Singh Jawanda, 85.
Marion was renting the second floor of the three-story house at 2772 Merritt Rd. where Jawanda lived and was the landlord.
Firefighters found a jerry can holding gas in Marion's bedroom and a tank of propane in the suite's oven. Had the propane detonated, the house would have "gone off like a bomb," the court had heard during the trial.
A retired math teacher, Jawanda was described as a deeply religious man who dedicated his life to education and helping others. His death meant he was never able to see his five-week-old grandson, the court heard at sentencing.
