N.S. man charged with murder in fatal Centreville fire; woman’s death suspected intimate partner violence

A woman was found dead in an Annapolis Valley, N.S., home in another alleged case of domestic violence resulting in death.

A man has been charged with second-degree murder following a suspicious fire and death in Centreville, N.S., early Saturday morning.

Kings District RCMP, the Kentville Volunteer Fire Department and EHS responded to a report of a structure fire on Anthony Avenue around 3 a.m.

First responders discovered a home engulfed in flames. Crews were able to extinguish the fire.

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Police say six people were able to escape the home and no one was injured. However, a 22-year-old woman was found dead inside.

Investigators believed both her death and the fire were suspicious.

The Nova Scotia Medical Examiner’s Office has determined the woman’s death was the result of homicide.

Police say it was the result of intimate partner violence.

Annapolis District RCMP found and arrested a 28-year-old man on Highway 8 near Lequille, N.S., around noon the day of the fire.

He was taken to the Bridgetown RCMP Detachment and later transferred to the New Minas RCMP Detachment, where he remained in custody overnight.

Justin Joseph Benjamin of Centreville was charged with second-degree murder and arson with disregard to human life on Sunday.

Benjamin has been remanded into custody and was scheduled to appear in Kentville provincial court Monday morning.

Police say their investigation continues.

They are asking anyone with information about the fire to call them at 902-679-5555 or Nova Scotia Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

Sixth recent incident of suspected intimate partner violence in Nova Scotia

The murder of the woman in Centreville marks the sixth suspected incident of fatal intimate partner violence in Nova Scotia since October.

Investigators believe the suspicious deaths of a man and woman in Mahone Bay last week were the result of intimate partner violence.

Police say a man killed his partner and her father in a vehicle on Gottingen Street in Halifax before killing himself on New Year’s Eve.

Three women were killed by their current or former partners in Enfield, Yarmouth and Cole Harbour in the fall. Police said in each case the man killed the woman and then killed himself.

A man has also been charged with second-degree murder in his wife’s Christmas Eve death in Saint John, N.B.

“The frequency, the severity that has been happening recently is very disconcerting, very alarming, and we all have to take the time to question why is this happening,” said Isa Bishop-Gates, executive director of Women’s Place Resource Centre in Nova Scotia.

The centre is working on a project to address gender-based violence and it will release the results of a public survey later this month.

-With files from CTV Atlantic’s Stephanie Tsicos

For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page.