A young Montreal drug addict who stabbed his own mother faces 13 years in prison, a judge ordered, recalling it was not an “accident” as defendants believed.
• Also read: “I committed an unforgivable act”: guilty of killing his mother by stabbing about thirty times
• Also read: “Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you“: He would have attacked his own mother by stabbing her 33 times
“His mother’s death was not due to an ‘accident’. That’s because he recklessly abused alcohol and drugs for years and stabbed his mother 33 times while he was cutting her throat,” Judge James L. Brunton said in the sentencing of Francis Normand this Thursday at the Montreal courthouse.
With his head bowed, the 25-year-old defendant listened calmly as the judge reminded him, calling the January 17, 2021 crime a “near-homicide.”
At the time, Normand was living with his mother, Francine Roux, on rue Gilford in Montreal. He didn’t work and used the Canada Emergency Response Benefit to pay for his drug and alcohol abuse.
Francine Roux, victim. Photo from Facebook
killing
And when his mother returned home after a few days outdoors, Normand, stricken with hallucinations from seeing dinosaurs and volcanoes, began stabbing her with a knife. The 49-year-old victim screamed so loudly that it woke his brother, who lived in the upstairs apartment.
“As he came through the back door, he saw his sister lying on the ground, covered in blood,” the judge described. Mr. Normand stood at his feet with bloodied hands.”
Normand was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. He wanted to defend himself for voluntary intoxication in order to be acquitted, but the judge refused. A jury later found him guilty of manslaughter.
“She had a big heart, she loved her son, she wanted him to succeed,” the victim’s brother testified, recounting the good times of everyday life that will never come again.
Francine Roux was stabbed to death in an apartment building on Gilford Street in Montreal on January 17, 2021. Archive photo, QMI Agency
therapies
For his part, Normand had apologized profusely.
“I committed an unforgivable act… Drug use is worth nothing compared to what I lost. “My mom was the one I loved most in the world, she’s the one I respected the most in the world,” he said.
The defendant, who was being defended by Me Catherine Daniel-Houle and Ulisce Desmarais, was hoping for seven years in prison, but the judge opted for a 13-year sentence, which he can use to solve his consumption problems. The Crown, represented by Mes Katherine Brabant and Pierre-Olivier Bolduc, proposed a 15-year sentence.
“There is hope that he will choose to participate in the various therapies available in the federal prison system and that he will continue his therapies after his release from prison,” the judge said.
Given the preventive detention, Normand still has a little over nine years in prison.
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