The Granby girl’s stepmother was convicted of second degree murder and forcible confinement. The 12 jurors took barely five hours to reach a verdict.
“If this verdict can give a little dignity to this young girl, it’s huge,” said Me Jean-Sébastien Bussières, his eyes filled with water, as he leaves the courtroom. The two crown attorneys were particularly moved and surprised by the speed at which the jurors had come to a consensus on a decision.
The 38-year-old woman, sitting in the defendants’ box with a chain on her feet, barely reacted when the word “guilty” sounded, twice rather than once, in the courtroom. She jerked her head slightly as if taking the shock. The jury had to be unanimous before delivering its verdict.
Jurors determined that the mother-in-law knew of the risks of the child dying, wrapped in duct tape. Otherwise, they could have found the woman guilty of manslaughter, as Judge Louis Dionne had explained through a “decision tree” in the morning of Thursday.
The jury accepted that when Madame made the gesture, she had knowledge that there was a risk that death would follow.
Me Claude Robitaille, one of the Crown attorneys
Me Claude Robitaille, one of the Crown attorneys, and his colleague admitted that they had a “major” case in hand and “heavy with consequences”. They pleaded on Tuesday that the accused had developed a “feeling of aversion” towards the 7-year-old girl, a thesis that the jury obviously accepted.
The mother-in-law’s lawyer also appeared briefly in the media. “We respect the work of the jurors, but we do not agree with the verdict,” he said. “From there, we will discuss the next steps with our client. ”
The girl’s paternal grandmother, who has attended the trial every day for eight weeks, said the verdict was a “gift”, “total happiness”. She said the 911 call, which the jury listened to from day one of the trial, was the most painful moment to hear.
“It was terrible, it was the hardest part for me. I was doing the pumping [de réanimation] with [l’opérateur] “, did she say. The grandmother also wore a small chain, with a moon-shaped pendant, received on the day of the girl’s birth.
The mother-in-law is thus sentenced to life imprisonment. Judge Louis Dionne will now have to determine the period of detention before she is eligible for parole. The minimum is 10 years and the maximum 25 years. Lawyers for both parties will have to make their suggestions very soon when submitting observations on the sentence.
“From head to toe”
The mother-in-law admitted that she wrapped the girl in duct tape during her emotional testimony. She indicated that it was not she who initiated the restraint on the night of April 28 to 29, 2019, but that she held the child’s legs while she was wrapped in tape. In the morning, she added about ten laps to his chest, then two more more laps. “I spent the slap on his hair and I directed him to the feet. And I went up, ”she said, in tears, during her defense.
During his shock testimony by videoconference, the son of the accused revealed that the girl was covered with duct tape “from head to toe”.
It was a mummy. You didn’t see her through the slap. There were several layers. Not just one. Many.
Extract from the testimony of the accused’s son
The death of the girl shocked Quebec in 2019, especially since the child and her little brother were monitored by the youth protection department (DPJ). A few weeks before her death, she had also been expelled from her elementary school because of her behavioral problems and because she was stealing classmates’ lunch in first grade.
His death triggered a public inquiry and also the creation of the Laurent Commission, which led to the reform of the Youth Protection Act. The “best interests of the child” is now at the heart of law enforcement.
The father’s trial is due to take place in January. The man is charged with negligence causing death, abandonment of a child and failing to provide the necessities of life.