Keven Deblois found guilty of murder of Karine Bélanger in Saint-Joseph-de-Beauce

A jury has found Keven Deblois guilty of second-degree murder, abuse of a corpse and arson. Sentencing remains to be determined.

Unanimous verdict against Deblois for murder of his partner

The jury found Keven Deblois guilty on all three counts of which he stood accused, according to ici.radio-canada.ca. The verdict was delivered on Friday at the Saint-Joseph-de-Beauce courthouse: second-degree murder, abuse of a corpse and arson.

The 28-year-old man was accused of the murder of his partner, Karine Bélanger, a 36-year-old mother of a family who lived in Quebec City. She died in September 2022 from abdominal trauma. Her body was found in a burning truck.

The 13 jurors heard around twenty witnesses over six weeks of trial, more than three years after the discovery of the charred remains in the burned vehicle. They recommend that Deblois be ineligible to apply for parole for 18 years. The final decision on this matter rests with the judge.

Accused on conditional release at time of offence

At the time of the events, Keven Deblois was on conditional release and residing in a transition house in the Beauport neighbourhood. He had obtained permission to spend weekends at his mother's home in Sainte-Marie. According to the statement presented at the outset of the trial by the prosecutor, he was there with the victim on Saturday, 24 September 2022.

"Dr Dazé was definitive on that point. The body was found in a burned vehicle. That is somewhat what the prosecution's theory rested on," said Annik Harbour, prosecutor for the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP).

Victim's family present for verdict

Karine Bélanger's mother broke down in tears at the announcement of the verdict. Her partner and the victim's adoptive father, Noël Gagnon, testified to the weight of years of waiting. "Night after night, we go to bed and we think about it all the time. We hope that the process will mean that it perhaps diminishes over time," he said.

The family, which had followed the entire trial by videoconference, had chosen to be physically present on Friday for the announcement. "I said to myself: I must set aside my pride, I must do it for her and for the pronouncement of the verdict," added Mr Gagnon.

Ms Harbour expressed the satisfaction of the prosecution. "We are quite satisfied that finally the family can have closure in the process."

Sentencing remains to be set, defence examines its options

Sentencing has not yet been scheduled. Ms Harbour clarified that the defence announced, at the time of the verdict, that it needed to carry out verifications before communicating its position. The defence is not ruling out filing a Babos motion, a mechanism that allows the court to end a trial when the conduct of the state is deemed to be abusive.

Source: Google News CA — Québec (FR)