The man accused of the heinous murder of a teenager who was drugged and beaten only to be found on the side of the road in February 2020 is sentenced to life in prison without possibility of release for 19 years.
• Read also: Murder of young Océane Boyer: François Sénécal will plead guilty
“You scrapped our lives, you took away a part of ourselves,” thundered with emotion Caroline Sarrazin, the mother of young Océane Boyer, addressing François Sénécal, who admitted the unpremeditated murder of the 13-year-old girl.
“Forgiving you is not an option,” said another close friend.
The 53-year-old man preferred to stare at the ground rather than face the gaze of the many relatives of the victim who came to the Saint-Jérôme courthouse for his guilty plea, which cut short the proceedings legal proceedings and avoid a long and painful trial.
But he still insisted on addressing the court, suppressing his sobs.
Photo taken from Facebook
Francois Senecal
‘Not forgivable’
“I wish no one was here. I’m sorry. If I could be able to step back, I would. I can not. I will blame myself for the rest of my life. I know my apologies are worthless, but I apologize the same. […] I would like to ask for forgiveness, but it is not forgivable what I did”, sobbed Sénécal, handcuffed in the dock.
The discovery of the lifeless body of Océane Boyer, 13, in an isolated area of Brownsburg-Chatham in the Laurentians had shocked all of Quebec.
The young girl had never been to school on February 26, 2020. She had been drugged and beaten with a blunt object, which had caused her death.
François Sénécal, a friend of the victim’s family, was arrested and then charged the day after the premeditated murder of the young girl.
“It is a sentence which is serious and which must be serious in the circumstances”, argued Me Steve Baribeau, Crown prosecutor.
“Cowardly”
Judge France Charbonneau did not mince words about the accused, calling him a “coward”.
She recalled that Sénécal had wanted to “silence” his victim and tried to erase all traces of the crime.
More details to come…