Arson suspect avoided jail days before fire

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This article was published 19/07/2011 (5219 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The woman accused of killing five people in a rooming-house fire had avoided jail time only days before.

Lulonda Lynn Flett, 40, is accused of torching an Austin Street rooming house early Saturday morning while eight people were inside. Three days before the blaze, Flett plead guilty to a November 2009 beating in a West End parking lot and received 12 months of supervised probation.

The news came as families of the victims dealt with the tragedy.

“I don’t even have the words to express how I feel,” said Evelyn Laforte, mother of 56-year-old Robert Laforte, who died Sunday at hospital. Laforte said she was grateful she got to say goodbye to her son, who had suffered brain damage from smoke inhalation.

“I just have to deal with it and so I’m coping the best I can, as is the rest of our family, because he’s going to be missing in our family circle now,” said Laforte.

Also killed in the blaze were 22-year-old Norman Darius Anderson, 54-year-old Maureen Claire Harper, 49-year-old Kenneth Bradley Monkman and 44-year-old Dean James Stranden.

Flett is charged with five counts of second-degree murder for their deaths, as well as three counts of attempted murder for three other people inside the home when the fire began.

Two women managed to escape after the blaze began.

Police said another man was still in hospital in stable condition Monday.

The quintuple homicide appears to be Winnipeg’s single deadliest crime, said a police spokeswoman.

“In terms of the sheer numbers (who) are affected in regards to this incident, it’s not something that we’ve seen before,” said Winnipeg Police Service Const. Natalie Aitken.

“It goes to show you how quickly things can escalate with respect especially to fire incidents.”

Last Wednesday, Flett received a conditional discharge for the November 2009 assault that happened in a parking lot near Ellice Avenue and Maryland Street. Police saw Flett and another woman beating a third woman by kicking and punching her.

Court heard the victim was Flett’s sister-in-law, and the dispute broke out after the victim allegedly hit Flett.

As a result of the beating, the judge sentenced Flett to 12 months of supervised probation and ordered her to complete counselling, as well as “stay away” from the victim.

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 prior criminal record, which one lawyer argued should entitle her to some leniency.

“I don’t think you should end up with a record but I do think supervised probation is a good idea,” said provincial court Judge Donald Slough, after referring to Flett’s record as of last week.

Saturday afternoon, hours after the fatal fire, police arrested Flett in a hotel on the 800 block of Main Street.

A police spokeswoman would not confirm the victim of the November 2009 beating was in the Austin Street rooming house when the blaze began.

However, she said investigators had “learned through a number of interviews” there may have been a dispute between Flett and someone at the rooming house.

“I don’t think anything, or any kind of motive behind this could justify this action,” said Aitken.

The dead won’t be easily forgotten, according to others who knew them.

Stranden’s 92-year-old grandmother hadn’t heard from her grandson in a couple of months when she heard about the fire, but said he had high hopes for the future.

“He wanted to go to Red River College,” said Helen Stranden. “He wanted to become a computer (repairman).”

Late Saturday afternoon, Stranden’s old friend Troy Courchene stopped by the rooming house to pay his respects.

“I’d known him for 30 years,” said Courchene.

gabrielle.giroday@freepress.mb.ca

— with files from Meghan Potkins