Home owners charged in fatal fire at student rental near U of T Scarborough campus
Posted September 10, 2018 1:15 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Charges have been laid three months after a fatal fire at a student rental apartment near the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus.
Crews were called to Haida and Lash courts, near Morningside Avenue and Ellesmere Road, around 2:30 a.m. on May 30 after reports of a fire that started in the basement.
The body of an 18-year-old U of T student from China was found in a bedroom on the second floor of the home.
A woman in her 20s suffered serious burns and two others were taken to hospital for minor smoke inhalation.
Fire officials said all four people living in the home were University of Toronto students.
On Friday, Aug. 30, Toronto police charged the owners of the home, Weisong Zhou, 47, of Toronto and Yu Jing, 45, with a total of 22 charges, including arson by negligence and criminal negligence causing death.
In a release police allege they were “negligent in providing proper fire protection and safety at a home that they own and operate as a rental property.”
The cause of the fire is still being investigated by the Office of the Fire Marshal.
