“It’s for her,” this little girl from Granby who died in April 2019 at the age of seven, “that you will be in a court room over the next few weeks,” said one of the prosecutors of the Crown, Me Jean-Sébastien Bussières, to the 14 jurors chosen to judge the stepmother of the child.
The accused’s criminal trial began Monday morning at the Trois-Rivières courthouse.
The 38-year-old is charged with the second degree murder of the girl, as well as forcible confinement. She pleaded not guilty to the crimes charged and has been detained since her arrest.
In his opening statement to the jurors, Mr.e Bussières insisted on telling them the little girl’s name aloud. It was undoubtedly the first time they had heard him, as he cannot be disclosed since his death, by order of the court.
The girl died in the spring of 2019 in extremely disturbing circumstances, shortly after being the subject of a report to the Direction de la protection de la jeunesse (DPJ) in Estrie. She was also known to the DPJ from a very young age.
The child’s mother-in-law listens to the trial from the defendants’ box. Looking very young, with a chubby face and a big bun on the top of her head, she cried as jurors listened to the 911 call for help on the morning of April 29, 2019.
Crown attorneys will try to convince jurors to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the girl’s murder over the next few weeks. To this end, they will call about twenty witnesses: first responders, family members and expert witnesses.
From the outset, Me Bussières camped the scene: he intends to demonstrate that the accused kidnapped the girl by surrounding her with adhesive tape. “These actions constitute second degree murder. “
After the 911 dispatcher’s brief account, the second witness who was heard was the first police officer to arrive at the house where the girl was found unconscious.
Constable Martin Noël testified that he saw the naked body of a rickety girl – reminiscent of starving children in Ethiopia, he said – lying on the ground on her back. An unidentifiable person, with a feeling of “urgency and distress”, was already trying to revive her. Heat was radiating from her body, the police officer said, adding that she had “marks” on her forearms, legs and lower abdomen. “She didn’t have a look. “
The policeman continued the resuscitation maneuvers. To Judge Louis Dionne, of the Superior Court, who is presiding over the trial, he also said he was surprised by the appearance of the room where the child was: all the furniture was stacked in front of the window.
Note that publication bans pronounced by judges will prevent journalists from revealing the identity of the accused and that of other people who will testify. Certain pieces of evidence that will be revealed during the trial will also not be immediately available.
The shocking death of the girl led Quebec to create the Special Commission on Children’s Rights and Youth Protection, which was chaired by former trade unionist Régine Laurent.
In his final report made public last May, Mr.me Laurent had made many recommendations, including the adoption of a charter of the rights of the child, the creation of a commissioner for the welfare and rights of children, better funding for several community organizations that support families and a reduction in the workload of youth workers.