A Victoria woman said the fire that tore through an abandoned house on Cook Street Thursday signals the end of a painful chapter for her family, as it was once the home of her brother’s killer.
Debbie Robinson, 60, said a suite in the house at 2321 Cook St. was raided by Victoria police just hours after the murder of her brother Kenneth (Kenny the Barber) Robinson, who was stabbed to death on April 15, 2005.
James Joseph Kennedy and two other people cornered and attacked Kenneth Robinson in front of a Wark Street apartment in a dispute over an unpaid drug debt. Kennedy stabbed the 53-year-old in the back.
As investigators hunted Robinson’s killers, they narrowed in on the house and seized evidence, including papers with the victim’s name on it.
Kennedy, who was 29 at the time, and his then-girlfriend, Rebekah Laura-Lee Csori, turned themselves in days later.
Debbie Robinson hopes the three-storey building will finally be demolished, the painful memories disappearing with it.
She said every time she drives past the building, she’s reminded of what was done to her brother.
“I’m always aware of it being there and I always look at it because to me it’s a big, huge, ugly symbol of these people,” she said.
The building has remained abandoned since just after that raid, becoming a home for squatters, a target for vandals and an eyesore for the community.
“For our family, life has gone on. It’s not something you’ll ever get over but we’re in a really positive place now,” Robinson said.
“So when you see that place … it pulsates that memory. It’s like living in the past, because that house is living in the past because nobody’s done anything with it.”
The property is owned by Robin Kimpton, who owns several other properties in the city. Last year, the City of Victoria ordered Kimpton to board up the house’s windows and erect a fence. The public works department also cleaned up some of the debris and graffiti on the property. The city has received many complaints about the derelict building.
The building is too structurally unsafe to do an inspection from the inside so the cause of the fire is still undetermined, said fire inspector Chris Kelly. The building has been turned over to the property owner who will decide whether it will be demolished.
One man, suspected of squatting in the house, was taken into custody by Victoria police after the fire but was released without charge.
As for Kenneth Robinson’s killer, Kennedy pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years. He died in prison last year.
Csori was also charged with second-degree murder but that was stayed because she testified for the prosecution. She pleaded guilty to other offences committed while on bail relating to a plot to have one of the Crown witnesses killed. She served two years in jail.
A third man received a suspended sentence.
“My wish to the people who did this to my brother, was I hope you will do something good with the rest of your life,” Debbie Robinson said.
“And the house, it’s the same kind of thing. I wish someone would do something postive with it and erase that negative energy.”
