A carer in her early 30s has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of her own mother. The defendant had also spent a week with her mother's body in her house.
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“Candles were lit to get rid of the smell,” said defense attorney Jean-Marc Fradette.
Mélanie Dubuc sacrificed 10 years of her life to support her mother. In March 2021 she was at the end of her strength. “You are struggling, all alone and tired,” she said to the paramedics who picked her up on March 16, 2021.
Alerted by neighbors who feared they had not seen Mélanie Dubuc for several days, the Sûreté du Québec discovered the mother's body lying under the blanket with the window open. She had been dead for a week. Mélanie Dubuc lay injured on the floor, having mutilated her wrist, chest and neck.
“The doctors told us that they [la blessure] “It was a few inches from the heart,” Me Fradette explained.
The defendant explained to the paramedics that she was “at the end of her life, that this was just her life and that it was unacceptable.”
The whole affair began in 2010. Mélanie Dubuc's mother had already attempted suicide after a separation, which caused her permanent cognitive problems. Five years later, in 2015, her eldest daughter Mélanie, who was accepted as a nurse at UQAC, left the south shore of Montreal to settle with her mother and lover in Saint-Honoré.
His relationship eventually fell apart. She gave up her studies and job as a caregiver to work in a restaurant, which is more compatible with her role as a natural caregiver. Mélanie Dubuc was then appointed her mother's guardian, but the pandemic made the isolation worse.
“She isolated herself and fell into a severe depression,” Me Fradette added.
The mother's condition worsened. “His daughter should then have taken him to the hospital,” said the head of the criminal and law enforcement agency Me Marie-Josée Gagnon-Hamelin.
“Madame did not want to be in the hospital or in a CHSLD,” Me explained to Fradette. “She wanted to die. Her daughter accompanied her at the end of her life by no longer caring for her. She wanted to end it herself. After sacrificing ten years of her life, she didn’t see the strength to get through it.”
“That’s why she didn’t call anyone when the mother died, because she assumed the police or even rescue workers would find the bodies.”
The young thirty-year-old was initially accused of premeditated murder, but the charge was reduced to negligent homicide.
“The psychological state of the defendant at the time of the crime,” is how the head of criminal and criminal prosecution summarized the change.
“The crime is that due care was not given to his condition,” the defense attorney added.
Mélanie Dubuc will be the subject of a preliminary report and will appear in court again next June. The defense believes it can avoid prison.
“There is no risk of reoffending, no previous convictions. “We all know that this is all connected to compassion,” argued the defendant’s prosecutor.
According to Me Fradette, Mélanie Dubuc has improved since the tragic events.
“Of course a lot of pain… I wouldn't say she's much better, but better, yes,” he clarified.