Victim of 2016 Winnipeg firebombing found guilty of operating drug ring

A man badly burned when a Molotov cocktail was thrown into his home was convicted in a Manitoba court Friday of drug trafficking.

Justin Kirstein was found guilty of seven drug and firearm offences for operating a mid-level cocaine trafficking operation in his home, which police discovered after a firebomb sailed into his bedroom on July 16, 2016.

Court of Queen's Bench Justice Robert Dewar ruled it was unimaginable that Kirstein would not know about the cocaine, drug paraphernalia and weapons found in his Young Street home and his backyard. 

"The little bits of aluminum foil, the scales, were all in full view in the living room," Dewar said.

"It was inconceivable to me that Mr. Kirstein was oblivious to the existence of drugs and drug paraphernalia."

During the course of his nine-day trial, court heard that early in the morning of July 16, as Kirstein was asleep, a brick sailed through his bedroom window, followed by a Molotov cocktail.

He woke up covered in flames and sustained serious burns to his arms and legs.

Police officers and fire investigators who responded found illicit drug merchandise in the scorched home, as well as $17,000 kept in a briefcase underneath his bed and firearms stashed in a bush in the backyard, they told the court.

Youth tried to hide the evidence: Crown

Prosecutors called two witnesses who said they worked as drug dealers out of Kirstein's home the night of the ambush.

The witnesses, who were youths at the time of the offence, said they pulled firearms out of the burning home, under Kirstein's orders, but could not retrieve a suitcase of money.

In his defence, Kirstein's girlfriend, Shania Thompson, testified the drugs and related merchandise belonged to one of her acquaintances, who dropped them off at the home she shared with Kirstein.

Kirstein, who represented himself in the trial, presented a bag of cocaine with the fingerprint of the acquaintance as corroborating evidence.

Dewar didn't buy that argument. He said the fingerprint only demonstrated that Kirstein did not act alone in the drug trade.

The justice added it became clear the firearms belonged to Kirstein when a police officer mentioned the guns and Kirstein animatedly opposed any search of his property.

He found Kirstein guilty of drug trafficking and illegally possessing proceeds from crime, a rifle without a licence, an illegal sawed-off shotgun and a live shotgun shell.

He was also convicted of three counts of possessing a firearm while prohibited.

Proceeds from crime

The suitcase, he added, likely contained proceeds from trafficking.

"Mr. Kirstein, clearly, after the fire, was agitated about retrieving his briefcase full of money," he said. "One has to question why someone would have almost $17,000 in cash under their bed rather than the bank."

Two males originally accused of arson in connection with the firebombing were acquitted at a trial earlier this year. A publication ban was enforced so they can no longer be identified. 

At that trial, Kirstein said he was a former member of a B-Side street gang. He believed the attack was a form of retaliation from members of the Mad Cowz gang because the two-storey home he moved into on Young Street, near Sargent Avenue, was on their turf.

Kirstein, a woman and two teenage boys were all treated and eventually released from hospital after the fire, which caused an estimated $105,000 worth of damage.

He will be sentenced at a later date. 

With files from Bryce Hoye