The life sentence for a woman who set a deadly fire that killed five people in Winnipeg will stand.
The Manitoba Court of Appeal heard an application from Lulonda Flett's lawyer on Wednesday asking for a reduction in the sentence handed down in June 2013.
He argued it was too harsh given Flett's troubled background, history of substance abuse and cognitive issues.
However, the Crown countered that the trial judge's original sentence was justified by the loss of life and deliberate nature of the crime.
Flett pleaded guilty to five counts of manslaughter for the July 2011 fire which she set in order to scare two women inside who she believed were behind her arrest days before.
In the middle of the night, as people inside were sleeping, she lit ablaze a couch that was sitting on the front porch of the rooming house.
The two women she targeted escaped the blaze but Dean Stranden, 44, Norman Anderson, 22, Kenneth Monkman, 49, Maureen Harper, 54 and Robert Laforte, 56, were killed.
Laforte's sister, Michelle Wazny, was at the appeal hearing. She said it was difficult to be in the courtroom but she's glad the case is over.
"It was an emotional day," she said. "It definitely takes me back to the day we lost our brother but I'm just glad it's over and done with and we never have to be in this building again."
Flett's period of parole ineligibility won't change as a result of Wednesday's ruling, which means she could be released from prison in 2018.
(CJOB)
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