Norah and Romy Carpentier’s mother issued a strong statement at the end of the public inquiry into the little one’s death, regretting that several of the issues raised during the inquest “did the chances” of finding her family alive.
Communication problems, working in isolation, understaffing, duplication of investigators, wrong decisions against guidelines, undertrained agents; The list of allegations against Amélie Lemieux at the end of the 50 testimonies heard is long.
“As part of the investigation, I learned that after the death of my daughters, several structures were changed, improved or created. Why didn’t Norah and Romy get this chance?” asks the grieving mother and describes her trust in the system as “zero” based on these findings.
Immediate emergency
Amélie Lemieux was shocked that several speakers had brought to the fore the fact that she said at the outset of the inquest that “Martin loved his children” and wanted to refocus the question the coroner needs to ask. Two children involved in car crash just before 9pm, possibly injured, not found, is this normal?
For Amélie Lemieux, the answer is clear: the urgency was there from the first few minutes.
“Given that Martin had no criminal record, had clear suicidal thoughts, and had no history of violent crime, those elements worked against us,” she notes, concluding with a disturbing but significant observation.
“The police do not seem to have given the disappearance of my children the importance it deserves. […] I consider my family abandoned for speaking the truth about what I knew about Martin regarding my daughters.
“Every night I kiss two urns”
Amélie Lemieux also wanted to remind the coroner how much she has only survived and not lived since the fateful evening of July 8, 2020.
“Every night before I go to bed I kiss two urns. Sometimes I rock them by telling them how much I regret not being able to take their place,” confided Norah and Romy’s mother through tears. “I was robbed of our future.”
Screenshot, TVA news
Screenshot, TVA news
Haunted by recurring nightmares, Ms. Lemieux described her daily life in harsh terms, evidently insisting on making interested parties understand the hardship that had inhabited her since the day her daughters could not be saved.
“If I close my eyes, I see Martin hitting my babies. No matter how much I scream, he won’t stop,” the mother said, touched, adding that she was haunted by the thought of not knowing what the little ones might have experienced between the accident and their tragic death.
“If they were hurt. If they were hungry. If you asked me. I wasn’t with my daughters.
Almost 50 witnesses heard, 18 days of trial, representations from 8 interested parties, 880 pieces of evidence submitted. It’s a titanic task that awaits coroner Luc Malouin until the fall to follow his recommendations following the deaths of Norah and Romy Carpentier.
Me Malouin gave interested parties until June 22 to submit their written comments following the testimonies heard during the investigation. “As this is a complex file, I won’t set a limit, but don’t send me 300 pages, just focus on the essentials,” he warned.
The coroner will then take a few months to analyze all the evidence and the parties’ positions and produce a much-anticipated report. However, one should not expect any criticism of the commitment and engagement of the actors in the file, he reminded in conclusion on Friday.
“I will never doubt the will and goodwill of the people who worked on the file. I will decide in my report whether they made good or bad decisions, but I will never question their will,” said Me Malouin.
representations of the parties
On Friday morning, interested parties gave a foretaste of their positions in condensed opening speeches, each lasting 20 minutes.
For Amélie Lemieux’s lawyer, it is obvious that the authorities failed in July 2020.
“It is extremely difficult to see the extent to which a succession of omissions and violations has resulted in unacceptable delays,” stressed Me Jean-François Leroux, inviting the Sûreté du Québec to “learn to walk and chew gum at the same time” if it is time to deploy inquiry and research structures simultaneously.
Photo archive, Annie T. Roussel
Asked by the Association of Quebec Provincial Police Officers to address the reduction in research staff at the SQ, the coroner regretted the overtime and loss of expertise in this sensitive area.
“We encourage the SQ to proceed with hiring new agents. […] Quebec deserves it,” said Me Guillaume Lajoie.
The Professional Association of SQ Officers again attacked the credibility of expert Alain Croteau, believing that his bias automatically disqualified him.
“He should have given more consideration to the evidence,” stressed Me Daniel Rochefort, arguing that an expert should not have feelings about a file. “It must be a robot.”
Can you share information about this story with us?
Do you have a scoop that might be of interest to our readers?
Write to us or call us directly at 1-800-63SCOOP.