Man found guilty of sparking North End fire that killed two

A jury has found a 30-year-old Winnipeg man guilty of setting a North End building ablaze, killing two people who were living in a second-storey suite.

Jurors deliberated less than one full day before convicting Alex Courchene on Friday morning of one count of arson and two counts of second-degree murder in the Sept. 14, 2024, deaths of Zenabu Gula, 38, and Geda Wodisso, 49.

The jury rejected a theory by defence lawyers that another man, who’d been arrested and released without being charged, was the real fire starter.

Standing in the prisoner’s box, his arms crossed in front of him, Courchene showed no immediate visible reaction to the verdict but later appeared downcast.

Courchene will be sentenced following the completion of reports reviewing his background.

The minimum sentence for second-degree murder is life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years.

The main floor of the building where Gula and Wodisso died is home to the House of Covenant International Church. The fire was set at the bottom of a stairwell that provided the only entry and exit to the apartment suites.

Prosecutors alleged that on the morning of Sept. 13, Courchene went to the building, located at the corner of Main Street and Atlantic Avenue, ignited a fuel-filled plastic pop bottle and left it in the stairwell before fleeing on an electric scooter.

The arson attempt failed and Courchene returned the next morning and tried again, jurors were told. This time the fire took, and the building became engulfed in flames.

In a police interview four days later, Courchene revealed he had direct knowledge of the fire and that there had been an unsuccessful attempt to set the building ablaze one day earlier, Crown attorney Mike Himmelman argued Tuesday in a closing address to jurors.

“So why did you set the fires?” a detective asked Courchene in a video interview provided to court.

“The fire didn’t even get set,” Courchene said. “We’re talking about the first day, right?”

“Yeah, OK, the first day the fire wasn’t even set,” the detective replied. “So, what happened the first day?”

“Mission failed,” Courchene said.

Witness Harjeet Gill testified he was driving by the building when he saw a man ignite an object and throw it inside. Gill said he took a photo before the man rode away on a scooter. Gill provided the picture to police. It matched the image captured on area security video, leading to Courchene’s arrest four days later.

Himmelman said Gill initially misidentified the man he saw at the fire scene, leading police that same day to arrest the man that Courchene’s lawyers had alleged started the fire.

Defence lawyer Mat Schwartz said Gill was unclear exactly where he was when he stopped his vehicle and argued he had lost sight of the arsonist in some trees and took a picture of the wrong man.

“What we say is clear from the evidence is that the police structured their investigation around the photo taken by Mr. Gill,” Schwartz told jurors. “The police put their trust in Mr. Gill. The Crown is asking you to do the same.”

dean.pritchard@winnipegfreepress.com