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Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION

7-year sentence for man involved in rooming house death

By: Mike McIntyre

Posted: 05/17/2012 3:38 PM

Solomon Turner died in May 2011.

It began with a noise dispute and ended in death.

Such are the circumstances surrounding the May 2011 killing of Solomon Turner, a 46-year-old father of seven who was stabbed to death inside a Point Douglas rooming house.

Lloyd Lindsay, 49, pleaded guilty to manslaughter today and was sentenced to seven years in prison, in addition to one year of time already served, under a joint-recommendation from Crown and defence lawyers.

A more serious charge of second-degree murder was dropped based on several factors, including Lindsay’s intoxicated state and the fact he didn’t actually inflict the fatal blows.

A female co-accused remains before the courts and is set to begin her preliminary hearing later this month.

Police found Turner’s body in the basement of a home in the 200 block of Austin Street. Lindsay later admitted to kicking and punching the victim after he refused to stop shouting while they were living on different floors of the same residence. Lindsay also helped drag Turner down a flight of stairs to the basement where he suffered nine stab wounds to the legs, including one which severed a major artery and caused massive blood loss.

"No one tried to help Mr. Turner. He was simply left in that basement to die," said Crown attorney Joanna Kostiuk.

Lindsay apologized in court Thursday, saying he never meant to kill Turner. He claims to have been drinking alcohol and mouthwash on the day of the attack and has little memory of it.

"I don’t really know what happened," he said.

Turner was disabled at the time of his death as a result of being attacked with a hammer in an incident the previous summer. He suffered long-term memory loss along with other related health injuries.

"This didn’t have to happen. Doing such an awful act on another individual... I feel so much anger," Turner’s sister, Paule Cook, said today in a victim impact statement.

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