deadmonton 2005 - nina courtepatte - briscoe-laboucan trial - january 25th, 2007

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Nina Louise Courtepatte, 13, died from blunt force trauma on April 3rd, 2005.


Charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault were Michael Erin Briscoe, now 36, Joseph Wesley Laboucan, now 21, and three teens not identified by provision of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.


One male teen, aged 19 and nicknamed "Pyro", pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in youth court in Stony Plain on December 8th, 2006. He was to be sentenced as an adult in April 2007.


Briscoe's girlfriend, now 19 and named "Cindy" in this narrative, went to trial March 12th, 2007. Pyro's girlfriend, now 17 and nicknamed "Buffy", had a trial date set for May 1st, 2007.


<< january 24th, 2007 | briscoe-laboucan trial | january 26th, 2007 >>



Edmonton Provincial Law Courts

The trial resumed with Jane Doe on the stand being questioned by Michael Briscoe's defence lawyer, Charles Davison.


The lawyer suggested Jane had ample opportunity to cry out for help but did not.


After she left the golf course with the five accused, Jane said they all stopped to eat at a 24-hour restaurant.


The lawyer asked the 17-year-old if she asked for help from restaurant staff.


“No,” Jane said. She also said they ran out on their bill without paying.


Together they ended up at the Windmill Motel where Michael Briscoe had a room. Jane stayed with the group.


Jane earlier testified the accused kept her against her will for four days but they twice took her to West Edmonton Mall.


On the second trip, when Buffy was offering to buy everyone new shoes, Jane again admitted she made no effort to escape.


"Did you ever say, 'Help me. I need to get away from these people?' " asked Davison.


"They were right beside me. What was I supposed to do?" Jane said, clenching her hands in her lap.


Laboucan's defence lawyer, Angela Alphonse, suggested Jane needed new shoes as well because they had blood on them.


"I suggest you knew what was going to happen that night," Alphonse told the girl. "You were there the whole evening."


"No," she said, wiping away tears.


Jane's mother knew her daughter was a "mall rat."


When Jane didn't come home for a few days, she started to hang around West Edmonton Mall herself. One day she spotted Jane near The Brick.


But Jane wouldn't go home willingly. Her mother had to flag down a police officer, who ended up handcuffing the girl.


"You were safe. The police were there. Why did you continue to fight?" asked Alphonse.


"I don't know," said Jane, wiping away more tears.


During other questioning, Jane admitted that she knew all of the accused except Michael Briscoe.


She said the three youths were "mall rats" like her, and she had first met Joseph Laboucan through an ex-boyfriend.


Jane testified she had previously drank alcohol and smoked marijuana with Pyro and Buffy. But on the night they went to the golf course, no one was drinking or doing drugs.


Jane also testified that she lied to police in the days following Nina's death. At one point, when police asked her to swear an oath on a Bible, she refused to do so saying, “I burn Bibles.”


Davison questioned Jane's testimony about Briscoe threatening her with a belt. He said the remark wasn't told to police for several days after Nina's death.


"Either you made a conscious decision or you forgot," Davison suggested, implying Jane had thought over her role in the murder.


Jane admitted, "They're both true."


"So you lied to police when you said you didn't remember."


"Yes," Jane replied.



The Crown then presented a witness who heard some of the accused joking about "chopping people's heads off" a day before Nina was killed.


Now 17, the boy cannot be identified. He is named in this narrative as Brent Doe.


Brent testfied he was hanging out at West Edmonton Mall with Michael Briscoe and Joseph Laboucan on April 2nd, 2005. Later they were joined by three others and they all went for a drive in Briscoe's Ford Tempo.


"There was a little spark of a joke to go chop people's heads off and throw them in the street," said Brent about the talk in the car.


The witness said a single name then came up.


"What is it that you heard?" asked Crown prosecutor John Watson.


"Nina," Brent replied. He said some in the car nodded and agreed, "Yes."


Brent then told the court somone in the car mentioned "they needed to pick up 'Big Blue' " as well as a machete or some kind of knife.


Watson asked, "What did you know 'Big Blue' to be?"


"A big bat," Brent stated.


There was also talk about "selling" Brent as a male prostitute on Bellamy Hill.


"I understood it was a joke," he said. "A few of them were laughing."


Brent said the group dropped him off at his sister's house where he had to babysit.


The next day, he saw Buffy and Pyro back at the mall.


Brent said Buffy was sad, distraught and crying. He also noticed drops of blood on Pyro's boots, and that the knuckles on both his hands were red.


Brent said he never saw Briscoe or Laboucan again.



The trial continued January 26th, 2007



A list of persons named in this case can be found at the bottom of the main Briscoe-Laboucan trial page.