The lawyer for the mother-in-law of the Granby girl tries, in a last ditch effort, to convince the jury to find his client not guilty of premeditated murder and forcible confinement.
“The prosecution has not been able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that duct tape was affixed to cover the victim’s nose and mouth,” said Me Alexandre Biron, at the start of his pleadings, Monday morning.
“You will have to ask yourself questions about these aspects: where was the ribbon affixed? When was it affixed? By whom was it affixed? And why was it affixed? “, He enumerated admitting that certain decisions taken by the accused led to a” sad “and” regrettable “result.
The 38-year-old accused said during her testimony that she had added “maybe a dozen turns” of duct tape to the victim when the victim was already tied in sticky paper on the morning of April 29. 2019. She however denied covering her nose and mouth.
The lawyer is trying to argue that the seven-year-old therefore died of hyperthermia because his body could no longer dissipate its heat properly in several layers of duct tape. She would also have died of mechanical asphyxiation, because she could no longer practice her breathing movements in too tight a restraint. Pathology consultant Anny Sauvageau, invited to testify by the defense, made these two conclusions.
To support his thesis, Me Biron reviews each of the 23 testimonies (20 for the Crown, three for the defense) heard by the jury over the past eight weeks. He pointed out that the first responders all noticed an unusually high temperature in the victim’s room.
Police officer Martin Noël spoke of a particularly hot body, of significant ambient heat, which supports the thesis of hyperthermia contributing to death.
Me Alexandre Biron, defense lawyer
“Agent Noël speaks of marks found on the body of [la victime], on the thighs, on the lower abdomen, hips, forearms. He talks about wrinkled skin as if [la victime] was coming out of the bath. He does not notice any mark of this nature in the face although he has had the opportunity to see it very well and up close, ”he added. The police officer indeed practiced resuscitation maneuvers on the girl.
The integrity of the crime scene
In the morning, Me Biron also insisted on the contamination of the crime scene. He explained that the pile of duct tape, in which the child was rolled up and which was described as a “shell” by some witnesses, moved three times during the intervention of the first responders.
The cluster was first seen alongside the girl on her bedroom floor. Policewoman Linda Harpin then saw the cluster in the hallway and kicked it back into the bedroom. Then the crime scene technicians discovered the piece of duct tape in the hallway. “In preparation for the trial, we called it magic tape”, quipped Me Biron.
“Constable Harpin, although she was trained as a police officer, touched a lot of things in this house. She touched a lamp, the TV cabinet in the bedroom [la victime] with his bare hands, to the pile of duct tape with his boot. Of all this, it is this last element that I consider the most worrying, ”said the lawyer.
Defense argument continues Monday afternoon.