Crown, defence clash in closing arguments for trial of teen accused of matricide

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This article was published 20/06/2022 (956 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LAWYERS for a Winnipeg teen accused of beating his mother to death as she slept alleged Monday prosecutors are “twisting” ordinary events into evidence of his guilt where none exists.

“They don’t have evidence (the 19-year-old accused) committed the crime, so they have to say it is impossible for someone else to have done it,” defence lawyer Matt Gould argued in a closing address to jurors. “Of course, it’s not impossible. We aren’t even close to that here.”

The 51-year-old victim was found bludgeoned to death in her bed March 26, 2019. Her son is charged with first-degree murder.

The Free Press is not naming the victim, as it would identify the accused, who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Jurors have heard the woman, who shared custody of her son with her ex-husband, had been off work for several months due to a physical injury and mental health issues.

The night before the killing, the accused bought his mother flowers and made her dinner — all part of a ruse, prosecutors alleged, to divert attention from himself.

Prosecutors say the woman was already dead when her son left home at 9:08 a.m. to take their dog for an unscheduled visit to pet daycare and other errands meant to provide him with an alibi. The teen returned home at 10:38 a.m. and five minutes later called 911.

Gould said there was nothing “sinister” about the errands, noting the teen was a newly licensed driver, and may have been looking for opportunities to be out with the car.

When he returned home, “everything in (his) life was changed forever” and he was “thrown into a nightmare,” Gould said.

Security video from neighbouring houses showed no one else leaving or entering the house during the teen’s absence.

The killing could have happened much earlier, Gould argued, pointing to security video that showed an unidentified man driving up to a neighboring house shortly after 3 a.m., exiting his vehicle, disappearing out of camera view for two minutes and then returning to his vehicle and driving away.

Crown attorney Jennifer Mann said an intruder would have attracted the attention of the victim’s dog, who was very “aggressive” and protective. The accused, whose bedroom was directly adjacent to his mother’s, would have heard the attack.

“This was not a quiet killing,” Mann said. “There is no chance that some unknown person sneaked into the house through some unknown point of entry, went into (the victim’s) bedroom and brutally killed her.”

The fact the woman was killed in her sleep points to planning and deliberation, Mann said.

“This wasn’t an impulsive act,” the Crown said. “He attacked her while she was sleeping because that was the easiest way to kill her. What was impossible for someone else was simple for (the accused).”

Thousands of text messages uncovered by police show the woman was dependant on her son, beginning when he was as young as 14.

The victim was a “needy and insecure person,” Mann said. “She put guilt trips on (her son) and expected a lot from him.”

Text messages show the teen was often responsible for cooking, grocery shopping, and household maintenance duties. The woman had “few boundaries” with her son and treated him more like a partner, Mann said.

“There is absolutely no doubt (he) was under a lot of pressure from his mother,” Mann said. “While (the victim) loved her son, she was needy, suffocating and a real burden on him. But was that why he killed her? We will likely never know for sure.”

Gould urged jurors to review the text messages, arguing they weren’t evidence of a toxic relationship but of a mother and son who loved each other.

“These text messages… are the best evidence we have in this case,” he said. “The relationship was loving, respectful and friendly. No matter how you twist it, you can’t make it bad. Where is the seething anger?”

Jurors heard testimony police interviewed one of the victim’s male co-workers after the accused said a man at work had been harassing her.

The victim filed a complaint against the man in May 2018, accusing him of “inappropriate behaviour” and “unwanted attention.”

Det. Sgt. Kenneth Lepage testified he interviewed the “person of interest,” and found his claims as to his whereabouts around the time of the killing were confirmed by electronic records showing his arrival and departure from work and a sign-in sheet showing he had dropped his children off at the YMCA.

Gould told jurors it wasn’t their job to “choose” whether his client or the co-worker was guilty of the killing. “This is not about our version or (the Crown’s) version, but whether (the accused) is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Jurors are expected to receive their final instructions from Queen’s Bench Justice Anne Turner and begin deliberations Wednesday.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca