A coroner’s inquest into the death of a woman who fell five stories from a window has begun in Regina.
Nicole Lafontaine had been staying at the Regina YWCA homeless shelter last year when she fell to her death from the fifth floor.
At the time, police and the coroner deemed the 31-year-old’s cause of death to be non-criminal.
The inquest is to investigate the circumstances of her death and offer recommendations to prevent similar incidents in the future.
The inquest is being held at the Royal Hotel and being overseen by coroner Aaron Fox. Six people were selected to serve as a jury.
Over the first few hours of the inquest, Fox outlined how on July 22, 2023, Lafontaine started to behave strangely. Fox described how Lafontaine was trying to open the window saying she wanted out of the room. Her roommate went to get staff and by the time they got back to the room, Lafontaine had opened the window and fallen five stories into the day care area.
The autopsy showed blunt force trauma from the fall and multiple different drugs in her system. She was pronounced dead around 3:15 a.m. July 22, 2023.
The inquest is scheduled to run until Thursday.