“Constipated face”, “she lifts my heart”, “she pisses me off” … The mother-in-law of the girl from Granby had a feeling of aversion towards the child and she did not care about his death, supported the Crown attorney, Mr.e Jean-Sébastien Bussières, during his pleadings. The lawyer read, Tuesday morning, twenty texts that the accused wrote about the victim, between November 13, 2018 and April 29, 2019, the day of the tragedy.
These texts, often punctuated with coronations, had been given to the jury in a bundle of documents, but they had never been read aloud during the trial of the woman who is accused of premeditated murder and forcible confinement. At one point, the woman says that she is no longer able to look at the 7 year old child, or that she is going to “leave her in her piss”.
“Ask yourself if you believe [l’accusée] when she tells you she wanted to protect [la victime] adding duct tape on the morning of the 29th, launched Me Bussières to the 14 jurors. Then ask yourself if the actions of April 29 are not rather part of the continuum of animosity that has lived in it for so long, as we have just read. Ask yourself if his testimony is not sewn with white thread. ”
During her testimony, the mother-in-law admitted to adding a dozen turns of duct tape around the girl who was already tied in sticky paper on the morning of April 29. She denied covering her nose and mouth. The 38-year-old wanted to prevent the child from injuring herself with a piece of furniture while waiting for a child psychiatry appointment, scheduled for the same afternoon, she said.
” Exasperated ”
Instead, the Crown prosecutor argued that the mother-in-law was “exasperated” by the girl who was screaming and trying to “regain her freedom”.
To immobilize it completely, [l’accusée] made sure to tie her “bin right” by wrapping it at face level, in more than one direction, and causing her death.
Crown Attorney Me Jean-Sébastien Bussières
He pointed out that even if the two pathologists, one for the Crown and the other for the defense, do not come to the same conclusions as to the causes of death, the two experts agree on one point: “N ‘ had been [le] adhesive tape on the small body of [la victime], it would still be alive and we would not be in front of you today ”, underlined Me Bussières.
The prosecutor recalled that the tape used is not “small scotch tape”, but “removal tape” five centimeters wide. “Basically, to put layers of tape like that, to pass it over the head, the hair, in front of the face, does that constitute a danger likely to cause the death of a child? Ask yourself this question. ”
To answer this question and many others, the prosecutor urged the 14 jurors to use “their common sense”.
This Wednesday, Judge Louis Dionne will present his instructions to the 14 jurors. Twelve of them will then begin their deliberations later in the day or Thursday. The father’s trial is due to take place in a few weeks.
Text messages written by the accused in the weeks before the girl’s death
January 14, 2019
” [La victime] does not want to see me full. Face of constipated. I send him to his room. ”
February 13, 2019
“Since the weekend, she has emptied her pot in her dirty laundry, in her doggies, and worse the kleenex. It’s for her nose and she flares herself with it. She created a bin of pee kleenex. It’s disgusting. […] All her laundry is soaked with urine for several days. I’m crying out. She’ll be doing exercise fuss all day. ”
February 22, 2019
” She says she doesn’t like chili peppers so she’s going to keep pitching them. I tell her that she’s going to spend a late weekend because she has a habit of being late. ”
March 15, 2019
“Joualvert! [La victime] come. I’m sorry, but she royally discourages me. Sorry, but I can’t look at her. ”
March 15, 2019
“Just his face discourages me. ”