Crown seeks at least 15 to 18 years for Granby girl's stepmother

TROIS-RIVIÈRES, Que. -

"At least right now, she is not suffering anymore. That's the sentence I keep telling myself," said the biological mother of the slain 7-year-old Granby girl before Judge Louis Dionne on Friday at the Trois-Rivières courthouse.

The comments came before the child's stepmother was sentenced after being found guilty of the girl's unpremeditated murder.

The 30-year-old woman said that the wound is still raw and that "this pain cannot be explained."

"I'm still trying to figure out why it happened," she said. "That's all that's on my mind.''

She added that at times that she still has trouble sleeping.

The mother gave the 38-year-old defendant a letter she wrote. It was not read or filed in court, but simply given to the stepmother.

Before her, the child's paternal grandmother also spoke, saying that the guilty verdict was "the best Christmas present I have ever received."

The lady was careful to point out that the girl's death had an influence on all of Quebec society in terms of children's rights.

She wondered, as she had from the beginning of the proceedings, why the court had not given her custody of the child as she had requested, concluding that what had happened to her granddaughter was "inconceivable; we will never understand."

The child's aunt also sent a letter, read by Crown prosecutor Claude Robitaille, in which she explained that "the pain does not diminish, even with time. It's a part of us that went up in smoke."

Conversely, six letters of support for the stepmother were presented to the court, but were not read and were instead placed under seal.

Robitaille argued that to denounce the killing and deter others, the court should impose a prison sentence of at least 15 to 18 years rather than the minimum of 10 years, which is required for an unpremeditated murder.

Robitaille acknowledged that the accused had no prior criminal record and expressed remorse, which are mitigating factors. However, he said the aggravating factors are much more numerous, starting with the nature and circumstances of the murder, the little girl having died after being immobilized and wrapped in multiple layers of tape.

"This is a horrible thing to do, especially to a 7-year-old child," he said in court. "Try to imagine for a second the distress this child went through."

He added that the fact that the victim is a child and that the accused was a person she should trust are recognized by the Criminal Code as aggravating factors.

Not surprisingly, defence attorney Alexandre Biron asked the judge to impose the minimum term of 10 years in prison before being able to apply for parole.

He argued that his client does not present any risk of reoffending and is rather "a person who presents potential for reintegration."

He argued that the stepmother was "ill-equipped" to deal with "a burden too heavy for her," which led to the tragic events.

Biron said, "the awareness of her responsibility in the death of (the child), she has it."

He said that his client said "it's my fault, I'm going to jail' at the very moment the child died, demonstrating that she was already remorseful and expressing her responsibility.

He rejected all the case-law the Crown presented to justify its request for a sentence higher than the minimum, pointing out on the one hand that each of the cases the Crown presented, including that of ex-cardiologist Guy Turcotte, were cases of double child murder. On the other hand, in each of his cases, the judgments involved defendants with a clearly demonstrated intent to harm, which was not the case for his client.

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Dec. 17, 2021.