Penticton bomb maker fined $1,000 for causing explosion

PENTICTON – A Penticton man has been fined $1,000 for inadvertently setting off an explosion with a homemade pipe bomb.

The blast last June in the yard of Matthew Nason broke a window and damaged a fence but no-one was hurt.

The court heard Nason built the bomb with a highly-explosive organic compound, but when he tried to set it off
in the woods, it didn’t work.

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Nason then placed the device against the fence where it was heated by the sun and exploded.

“It sounded like a gun shot but bigger than that, not as sharp and defined as a gun shot, but bigger,” said neighbour Kathy Hofmann.

“It’s unnerving, you know, because you never know who lives next door,” added neighbour Annelise Grusnick.

Nason pleaded guilty to making or possessing explosives.

The prosecutor called his actions incredibly dumb.

The RCMP bomb squad was summoned from Vancouver to help deal with the incident where several nearby homes were evacuated.