After sober but precise arguments, a jury must determine the degree of responsibility of a pizza delivery driver who killed his wife by stabbing her at least 100 times in their Salaberry-de-Valleyfield home while using cocaine.
“They will not absolve Stéphane Massé of his actions. You have a choice of two verdicts: second-degree murder or manslaughter. […] The difference between the two lies in the intention,” explained the defendant’s lawyer, Me Martin Latour.
According to the defense, Stéphane Massé, who inflicted 119 knife wounds on his partner Linda Lalonde on November 16, 2019, never intended to kill her, so he should be acquitted of the charge. Even worse.
Police officers from the Sûreté du Québec made the macabre discovery of Linda Lalonde (pictured with her husband Stéphane Massé) in November 2019 in the house where the couple lived on Rue Verner in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield in Montérégie. Photos Agence QMI, Pascal Girard and taken from Facebook
The 41-year-old man is currently being tried before a jury at the Salaberry-de-Valleyfield Courthouse.
He did not want
“As soon as he realized what he had just done,” Massé went to a Montreal police station the day after the crime to turn himself in to authorities. During an interrogation that lasted several hours, he confessed everything. The video was shown to the jury during the trial.
“Even if it wasn’t what I wanted, I did it anyway.” “That’s what he told the policeman,” Mr. Latour emphasized, supporting the defense’s argument.
Because before he took action, the pizza delivery man consumed around 1.75 grams of cocaine during his shift, which he suspected was “garbage” given the unusual effects he felt.
“He says that ‘his brain shut down, he became a vegetable, like a robot,'” argued the defense attorney, repeating his client’s words during interrogation.
Presence of the Spirit
The Crown, for its part, believes that the brutality with which he inflicted at least 100 stab wounds proves that he intended to cause the death of 48-year-old Linda Lalonde.
The victim, Linda Lalonde, was 48 years old. Photo from Facebook
And to understand Massé’s state of mind that evening, the prosecution asked the jury in particular to consider his actions after his wife’s murder: “The first thing he does afterward.” […]“Means having the presence of mind to call your colleague to tell him a made-up story to prevent him from showing up at his house,” said prosecutor Lili Prévost-Gravel, who works with Me Hélène Langis.
After the call, the delivery man took off his bloodstained jacket and coat and washed his face and hands in the bathroom. He then put on a new coat and made sure to lock the door when he left his house on Rue Verner, Me Prévost-Gravel explained.
During his interrogation, Stéphane Massé explained that he continued to stab the victim because he wanted to end his suffering.
Linda Lalonde was killed on Saturday, November 16, 2019, in her apartment on Rue Verner in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield. Pascal Girard/AGENCE QMI
“All I wanted was to end his suffering. […] I couldn’t get over it. She was strong, my little princess,” he told the investigator.
For the Crown, this proves that he had “the ability to foresee the consequences of these actions.”
Supreme Court judge Yvan Poulin will deliver his instructions next Monday to the jury, which will then be sequestered to deliberate on the fate of Stéphane Massé.