“We have to send a message to the entire population. It is not done to touch a child, to hurt him, ”wrote the aunt of the girl from Granby. Three people wanted to address the court during the observations on the sentence of the mother-in-law of the child which took place Friday morning: the biological mother of the victim, the grandmother and the aunt.
The mother-in-law was convicted last week of second degree murder and forcible confinement. The 38-year-old woman therefore receives life imprisonment. The Crown suggested on Friday morning that she serve 15 to 18 years in prison before being eligible to apply for parole. Instead, the defense proposed that it be eligible after 10 years.
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The girl from Granby, when she was two and a half years old.
Before lawyers plead the sentence, the girl’s biological mother spoke publicly for the first time since the start of the trial. She explained to Judge Louis Dionne the repercussions of her daughter’s death on her life. She also handed over a letter she wrote to the mother-in-law. The content was not read in court.
“You don’t expect to give birth to a child only to lose it in a tragedy like this,” said the woman who had four other daughters after the birth of the victim and her little brother. “The wound is still alive and it is still so painful,” she added.
The 30-year-old feels like she has been “going in circles” since the death of her daughter, she suffers from insomnia and she has difficulty keeping a job. She claims to have seen the victim’s younger brother again, who was in the house when her sister was wrapped in duct tape and was found unconscious. But their encounters stirred too many emotions and flashbacks difficult, she said.
“I can’t afford to be happy. I do not allow myself. As soon as my daughter left, I got lost and never found myself. I no longer have joy, ”said the woman who had her voice faltering at times.
“At least right now she’s not in pain anymore. This is the phrase I repeat to myself every day, every morning when I wake up and every night when I have insomnia. ”
A little girl full of life
The girl’s paternal grandmother also read a poignant letter in court. Recall that his son, the father of the victim, pleaded guilty to a charge of forcible confinement this week. He thus avoids holding a trial in January.
“It is not the tragedy of a single child and a single family, but it is the tragedy of all of Quebec”, underlined the woman who had custody of the girl until she was 3 years old. and half.
The oldest said she was marked by the image of her granddaughter, in bad shape in her hospital bed, a few hours before her death. “We were torn apart when we saw her dying in her hospital bed on April 29-30, 2019. A lively, mischievous, full of life, plump little girl to a skeletal, skinny little girl. can not. It hits, ”she read.
The grandmother had a thought for the cousins of the victim who have many questions about her death and for her four little sisters who will never know her. ” [Je] also thinks of his little brother who has seen and heard everything. He went through a tremendous trauma. It will remain marked for life, ”she added.
” Yes [l’accusée] had had enough and didn’t want it anymore, why didn’t they agree to give it back to me as I asked in court? Why so hard on this child? “, She also questioned.
Crown Attorney Me Claude Robitaille also read a letter from the victim’s aunt who was not present at the Trois-Rivières courthouse for observations on the sentence. “Losing a child in itself is unnatural. There is nothing worse. However, when death is not an accident or not an illness, it is inconceivable. It’s a pain that doesn’t decrease, it’s a part of us that goes up in smoke, a wound that never heals, ”she wrote.
“The pain does not decrease and even over time there are many unanswered questions. Tell yourself that the whole population does not understand. Imagine the family for us, ”she added.