Jean-Philippe Coutu has been charged with the second degree murder of a 67-year-old woman in mid-June. The 41-year-old man appeared Wednesday in the district of Sherbrooke while the Bureau of Independent Investigations (BEI) is looking into the actions of the police officers involved in his arrest.
Posted at 7:32 p.m.
Mr. Coutu was arrested on June 12 in Stukely-Sud by officers from the Sûreté du Québec (SQ), but the investigation into the murder was entrusted to the major crimes section of the city’s police department. of Montreal (SPVM).
The BEI is still investigating the actions of the SQ police officers involved in his arrest, according to spokesman Guy Lapointe. Under the Police Actsuch an inquest “must be held when a person, other than a police officer on duty, dies […] during a police intervention.
According to the information made available by the BEI the day after the intervention, the SQ police officers first intercepted the suspect for a violation of the Highway Safety Code around 5:25 p.m. incoherent and threatening” and then left the scene.
The police then allegedly “received a call from a lady advising them that an individual was trying to return to her home”. Once there, the SQ agents reportedly arrested the suspect, then found the victim dead in a wooded area outside the residence thanks to information provided by the suspect.
According to our information, the victim is Jocelyne Lessard, an uneventful widow who lived alone. She would have been strangled.
Complex facts
Also according to our information, mental disorders possibly exacerbated by the consumption of narcotics could be involved in the case of Mr. Coutu.
In addition to the charge of murder, the latter is the subject of two charges of breaking and entering, according to agent Mariane Allaire Morin, of the SPVM.
Mr. Lapointe was unable to say on Friday when the BEI would submit its report to the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions. It will take several months, according to the spokesperson, given the complexity of the facts.