The public prosecutor has always maintained that Jacques Delisle had ended his wife’s life, while the defense believes that Nicole Rainville took her own life. To support the theses of both, a range of experts have looked into the matter over the years. Summary of the scientific evidence in the Delisle case.
• Read also: Former judge Jacques Delisle pleads guilty to the homicide of his wife
• Read also: Lifting of the publication ban: read the full story of the Jacques Delisle affair
• Read also: The DPCP still convinced that he had the weapon
Defense theories
As soon as Nicole Rainville died, Jacques Delisle claimed that his wife, physically diminished and depressed, took her own life while he was out shopping.
To carry out the act, the 71-year-old woman allegedly grabbed a loaded gun belonging to her husband, which he left on a small table at the entrance to the condo. Delisle would have left it there, since it was illegal and he wanted to hand it over to the police, he mentioned.
Photo Stevens LeBlanc
Paralyzed on the right side, Nicole Rainville allegedly fired in an unconventional way, with her left hand, while she was lying on the sofa.
The pistol would have been held upside down, the butt upwards, the barrel perpendicular to the left temple. The shot would have been made at a right angle. All this would explain the presence of a stain of black smoke inside the palm of the deceased. The projectile would have deviated into the skull to end its course at the back of the head, to the right.
When he returned, Jacques Delisle found his wife dead. He then allegedly moved the cartridge case, which was on his chest, to place it on a small table adjacent to the sofa where it was located.
From 2015, however, Jacques Delisle changed his version of the facts. He reveals that he provided the loaded gun to his wife, following her pleas to die. Mr. Delisle allegedly tried to convince his wife not to take the action. Nicole Rainville, however, would have taken advantage of her husband’s absence to commit the irreparable.
The manner of firing remains the same, with the exception of the fact that new expertise now suggests that the projectile would have ricocheted into the lady’s skull, ending its course at the back of the head, towards the right.
- Listen to the legal segment with Nicole Gibeault via
:
The Crown Theory
Jacques Delisle murdered Nicole Rainville by shooting her in the head. He would have ended the life of his wife, who was severely disabled, to live together with his mistress, his ex-secretary 20 years his junior. By doing so, the retired judge avoided a divorce estimated at $1.4 million.
The shot would have been made at close range. At the time of the shot, Nicole Rainville made a defensive gesture by raising her only good hand to her head, near the cannon. This would explain the presence of black smoke on his left palm.
The projectile went from left to right, from the front to the back of the skull. The cartridge case was expelled and found itself on a table located near the sofa, where the lady was lying.