The next step in the trial of the Granby girl’s mother-in-law will take place on December 17. The Crown and the defense will present their suggestions on the sentencing of the 38-year-old woman who was convicted of second degree murder on Thursday. The latter was sentenced to life in prison, but the period before eligibility for parole must now be determined.
The girl’s paternal grandmother will also address the court during these sentencing submissions. “The grandmother of [la victime] wishes to go to court. She has started a drafting project, a letter, which she would like to read ”, announced the Crown attorney, Mr.e Jean-Sébastien Bussières, during a short meeting with the parties and Judge Louis Dionne, Friday morning, at the Trois-Rivières courthouse.
The Crown and the defense took advantage of this session to request additional time to prepare their pleadings for submissions on the sentence. The judge will then decide after how many years in prison the woman can apply for parole. The minimum is 10 years and the maximum is 25 years. The mother-in-law was also found guilty of forcible confinement on Thursday.
To everyone’s surprise, the 12 jurors took less than 5 hours to reach a unanimous verdict.
Recall that during the eight-week trial, the mother-in-law admitted to having added ten turns of adhesive tape around the girl’s torso, on the morning of April 29, when she was already in restraint. Then, the woman made two more rounds because she feared that the child would injure himself with a piece of furniture while waiting for an appointment in child psychiatry, the same day.
“I slapped the tape on his hair and pointed it at his feet.” And I went up, ”she said, in tears, during her defense. His own son, during his testimony, claimed that the 7-year-old victim was covered with several layers of duct tape “from head to toe”. She looked like a “mummy,” he described.
The father’s trial is due to take place on January 10. He is charged with negligence causing death, abandonment of a child and failing to provide the necessities of life.