A year almost to the day after the violent murder of his ex-spouse in Saint-Hyacinthe, a 58-year-old man admitted to having stabbed her to death and will have to spend at least the next 14 years behind bars.
After accepting the joint suggestion of lawyers Marc-André Gauthier, for the defense, and Sandra Bilodeau, for the Crown, the judge insisted on addressing the family, whom he suspected of being dissatisfied with the sentence.
“Although she may seem lenient or insufficient […]it is important to remember that the sentence imposed on the victim is life imprisonment,” said the Honorable Mario Longpré.
Indeed, Jean-Yves Lajoie will not be eligible for parole for 14 years, but he could remain behind bars even longer if he is not deemed fit to leave.
“If he gets parole […] his criminal record and the resulting impacts will remind him every day [qu’il] caused the death of
Nancy Roy in a senseless and odious way, ”added the magistrate.
Courtesy picture
Nancy Roy
Wave of feminicides
The murder of the 44-year-old woman is one of the first feminicides of the wave that has been highly publicized in the past year.
In the days preceding the crime, Lajoie had sent disturbing text messages to his ex-wife. He wrote to her in particular that she had made a “serious error” and that she would possibly be in as much pain as he was. He also sent her a photo of a warplane with the words “So wait for the bombing”.
Then, on the morning of February 23, the murderer showed up at his apartment with a knife he had brought from home. He then stabbed her numerous times, mostly in the neck. Nancy Roy had about thirty defensive wounds on her hands. She was found in a pool of blood, in her bed.
Met by investigators shortly after, Jean-Yves Lajoie did not deny his action. He was still covered in blood and had bandages on his hands.
Called to address the family yesterday afternoon, the murderer apologized, adding that he ‘deeply loved’ Nancy Roy and that no matter what he says, nothing will be able to bring her back.
Superfluous and irrelevant
The victim’s children did not wish to testify before the judge yesterday afternoon, but they had nevertheless written a letter in order to demonstrate to the Court the effects that the crime had had on their lives.
“I lost a lot of my focus,” the woman’s son wrote. Before, I could read two to three novels a week. Now I can dwell on a single book for over a month. Everything now seems superfluous and uninteresting to me. »
The youngest of the family, aged 18 at the time of the crime, mentioned in a letter to her mother that she “will always remain in her heart” and that she is now “an angel”. The young woman, suffering from autism spectrum disorder, also says she is afraid of Jean-Yves Lajoie and his son.
– With Claudia Berthiaume