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Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION
Hearing underway in case of deadly Austin Street fire
A police officer stands watch at the scene of a house fire on Austin Street North in July 2011 that killed five people. (TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES) Photo Store
A court hearing is underway in the case of a woman accused of starting a fire that killed five people last summer.
Lulonda Lynn Flett, 41, is accused of torching an Austin Street rooming house in July 2011. Five people inside the house were killed, while three others narrowly escaped.
Flett returned to court Monday for the start of a week-long preliminary hearing.
Lawyers told the judge they were having a series of last-minute discussions and requested an adjournment until Tuesday morning, which was granted. The hearing is to determine if there is sufficient evidence against Flett to send the case to trial.
Flett has been charged with five counts of second-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder, along with arson and other related offences.
Court records obtained by the Free Press show that Flett was in court three days before the deadly blaze where she pleaded guilty to a November 2009 beating in a West End parking lot and received 12 months of supervised probation.
Flett is a mother to six children and was based in St. Theresa Point, a community about 610 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg. She has a Grade 11 education and had no criminal record prior to the 2009 case, the court heard at the time.
Few details about the mass killing have been revealed by police, although investigators confirmed there was allegedly a dispute between Flett and someone at the rooming house.
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