Hanoski acquitted of Ainsworth fire

Nelson provincial court Judge Ron Fabbro has found the man who allegedly burnt down Ainsworth’s historic Silver Ledge Hotel in June 2010 not guilty.

Randy Hanoski, 54, was found not guilty in a ruling last month.

Judge Fabbro found a lack of physical evidence in his ruling, adding he could not accept the accounts of the crown that Hanoski was the man seen leaving the trailer next to the hotel where the fire started.

The Silver Ledge Hotel in Ainsworth Hot Springs, B.C., is a two-storey building of approximately 5000 square feet built in 1896.

It was used as a hotel until 1949. After being closed for 14 years it was purchased by two Calgary families and used as a “summer cottage”.

During the 60s and 70s cosmetic and structural restoration produced local interest in the building and historical research was started about the exciting history of this first community in the West Kootenays.