Screams echoed through the Sudbury courthouse as the families of three people killed in a firebombing of a row house in 2021 shared their grief.

Witnesses testified that in April 2021, 27-year-old Liam Stinson led two men to a Bruce Avenue townhouse where his ex-girlfriend Jamie-Lynn Rose lived. He instructed them to bring two Molotov cocktails and improvised firebombs. The men found the back door open, entered the kitchen and set the house on fire.

Jamie-Lynn Rose, Guy Henri and Jasmine Somers died in the fire. The owner of the townhouse, David Cheff, was able to escape by jumping from a second-story window. In May, Stinson was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of causing bodily harm by negligent fire to a residential building.

According to the Criminal Code, a conviction for premeditated murder carries a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 25 years. The arson charge will be served concurrently with the murder sentence.

On Monday, family members gave statements in court about their impact on the victim.

Rose’s father, Philip Wright, asked the court to imagine that someone in the room had deliberately set fire to their daughter’s relative.

“Imagine getting a call about this horrific act and then finding out it was intentional. Your sister, your daughter, your niece, your sister-in-law, and what about your mother,” Wright said.

He says he heard the emergency call and imagined the moment his daughter burned alive in the house.

Many of the victims’ families described a similar feeling of pain, grief and darkness.

Lianne Somers wonders about her daughter Jasmine’s last breath. “I keep asking myself: Was she screaming for me, her mother?”

Her father, Dennis Somers, says he knows his daughter is looking down on him and saying, “Hey dad, it’s okay, I’m in heaven…Thank you, dad, and I love you.”

Gisèle Beaudry, Guy Henri’s mother, described the moment when she wanted to bring some of his ashes to British Columbia, where he had lived with his family.

“As I was preparing his ashes, I came across some of his bones,” Beaudry said. “A mother should never hold the bones of her child in her hands.”

She remembers her son as a shining light who always had a compassionate listener.

“He did not deserve this cruel death,” she said, crying as she spoke in the witness stand with her husband at her side.

Defense attorney Joseph Wilkinson also had the opportunity to present his arguments. He stated that Judge Dan Cornell should resign due to alleged bias. The defense claimed that Cornell received a letter from lead investigator Det. Const. Marc Belanger after the trial. However, Cornell stated that he contacted the Judicial Ethics Committee after receiving the letter, did not respond, and ultimately denied the request.

Sentencing will continue with defense statements on November 1. Cornell still has to convict Stinson of arson, negligently causing damage to a dwelling by fire and causing bodily harm, which he will serve concurrently with his life sentence for three counts of first-degree murder.