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Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION

Woman to stand trial for fire that killed five

By: Mike McIntyre

Posted: 08/14/2012 12:01 PM

One of the biggest homicide cases in Winnipeg history is headed to trial.

Lulonda Lynn Flett, 41, is accused of torching an Austin Street rooming house last summer while eight people were inside. Five people were killed, while three others narrowly escaped.

Flett began her preliminary hearing this week, but abruptly ended proceedings Tuesday morning when she agreed to stand trial on five counts of second-degree murder along with arson-related offences. The Crown dropped additional charges of attempted murder.

No trial dates have been set.

Court records obtained by the Free Press show 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 incident, which one lawyer argued should entitle her to some leniency.

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