Nearly 24 years after the death of Guylaine Potvin and after a month of trial, Marc-André Grenon admits, in an unexpected turn of events, to having killed the 19-year-old young woman on April 28, 2000.
• Read also: Trial for the murder of Guylaine Potvin: no defense presented by the accused Marc-André Grenon
The admission came Wednesday morning, at the start of the crown’s pleadings.
“The defense now admits the identification of the attacker who presented himself in Guylaine Potvin’s apartment on the night of April 27 to 28, 2000 as being Marc-André Grenon,” revealed at the opening of the argument the prosecutor of the crown, Me Pierre-Alexandre Bernard.
DNA evidence presented by a forensic biologist at the trial showed that it was “hundreds of billions of times more likely” that the suspect DNA found at the scene was that of Grenon rather than that of another individual.
Photo provided by the Court
Despite this admission, Marc-André Grenon does not plead guilty to the charges of premeditated murder and serious sexual assault against him.
“Basically, we are going to present to you in defense that the intention of Marc-André Grenon when he showed up at Guylaine Potvin’s house in the night was to steal and that an altercation caused the death,” explained to the jury, stunned by this turnaround, the public prosecutor.
The jurors will therefore possibly have to decide whether he is guilty of first or second degree murder, depending on the pleadings presented by both parties during the day on Wednesday.
Listen to the interview with Pierre-Paul Biron, journalist at Journal de Québec, via QUB :
Real intention according to the crown
If the defense will likely plead a theft gone wrong, Me Bernard brushed aside this theory, notably raising the fact that several valuable objects, including the victim’s watch or a portable music player, had not been stolen.
“The theft is carried out by the opportunity of the moment, once Guylaine Potvin is dead and the attack is committed,” submitted the prosecutor to the jury.
He also insisted that all elements point to premeditated murder. For the crown, the sexual context was present from the entry of Marc-André Grenon into his victim’s apartment, which automatically classifies the murder as first degree.
“Even in the absence of proof of the precise moment of the commission of blatant sexual acts, you can still conclude that there was sexual assault, because when the first acts of violence, the first assaults occur, these acts may be with the aim of facilitating the sexual assault,” argued the public prosecutor.
“Isn’t it more reasonable to think that to satisfy one’s urges, to use a condom, to have penetration, that it would be easier if the victim is inert, immobile and unconscious,” questioned Me Bernard.
The presence of Grenon’s DNA in strategic locations on the victim’s body, the position of his body, which was naked and the use of a box of condoms among other things, also militate in favor of a sexual assault according to the crown.
“The end justified all means”
For the crown therefore, Marc-André Grenon had the fate of Guylaine Potvin in his hands and chose to sexually assault her and take her life.
“She had the right at that moment to expect, to feel and to be safe in her room, her home, her fortified castle,” insisted Mr. Bernard.
And despite the fact that she struggled mightily, Grenon took advantage of her great vulnerability according to the public prosecutor.
“Marc-André Grenon succeeded in his project which was to satisfy his sexual urges, at all costs, even if the death of his victim were to result,” insisted the prosecutor.
“For him, the end justified all means.”