The trial of the mother-in-law of the Granby girl, accused of second degree murder and forcible confinement, is drawing to a close. Defense attorney announced Thursday morning that his case was closed.
Pleadings will begin on Monday. Me Alexandre Biron, the accused’s lawyer, said he would need a whole day to try to convince the jury to find his client not guilty. M’s turne Jean-Sébastien Bussières, the Crown prosecutor, will come next on Tuesday.
“Which means that next Wednesday, in all likelihood, I should be able to address you with the final directives”, announced the judge Louis Dionne to the jurors. He warned them to prepare their suitcase for the deliberations which will begin in camera, Wednesday or Thursday morning.
Before this step, a draw must take place. Of the 14 jurors, only 12 will participate in the deliberations.
Since October 18, the Crown has called 21 different witnesses, including first responders, investigators and pathologists. The son of the accused also gave a very emotional testimony, by videoconference. Photos of the lifeless and emaciated girl were presented to the jury. The texts that the accused sent to a certain “Casablanca” on the morning of the tragedy were also submitted in evidence.
In defense, the accused herself gave testimony interspersed with sobs. She admitted to adding “maybe a dozen turns” of duct tape around the little victim on the morning of her death. However, it was not she who initiated the restraint during the night, she pleaded.
A polymer expert and a pathology consultant also testified in the defense. The cross-examination of this third witness, Anny Sauvageau, also ended Thursday at noon.
Mme Sauvageau judged “very unlikely” that the child died because duct tape covered his nose and mouth. Rather, she argued that the girl died of hyperthermia and mechanical asphyxia. The victim could no longer dissipate his heat under a shirt and several layers of duct tape. Also, she could no longer practice her breathing movements properly because of the ” slap tight ”, explained Mme Sauvageau.
The forensic pathologist, invited to testify by the Crown, instead concluded that the child died of external suffocation because her nose and mouth were covered with duct tape.