Kelowna

Story from CBC

A Kelowna student who tried to light a vehicle on fire during the 2011 Stanley Cup riot in Vancouver has been given a nine-month conditional sentence, followed by 15 months of probation.

Rag Gu Rock Gue Kim, also known as Rocky, was caught on video during the June 2011 riot damaging vehicles and trying repeatedly to set a truck outside the post office on fire.

Rocky Kim will serve five months house arrest followed by four months with a strict curfew. Crown prosecutors had asked for jail time, but Judge David St. Pierre noted the third-year biochemistry university student at UBC Okanagan is remorseful.

The judge also banned Kim from consuming alcohol or being in bars and ordered him to do 100 hours of community service and make restitution for the vehicles he helped damage during the riot.

Kim did not say anything in court Wednesday, but during his sentencing hearing Kim said he no longer expects to be accepted at a medical school because of his criminal record, so he plans to become a lawyer instead.

The judge noted those were very negative consequences for a young man, but added he has to accept responsibility for his actions. The judge told Kim that many people get drunk, but they do not riot, and told him, "this is not a walk in the park".

Kim's father is a pastor at a Surrey Presbyterian Church where Kim does charity work.

More than 1,000 charges have been recommended by police against 315 individuals. The Crown has approved charges against more than 168 people. Several dozen have pleaded guilty, but only a handful have been sentenced.

Photo: Contributed - Wayne Klassen

Kim was charged with repeatedly trying to light this truck on fire