deadmonton 2005 - nina courtepatte - briscoe-laboucan trial - january 29th, 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 26th, 2007 | briscoe-laboucan trial | january 30th, 2007 >>



The trial continued with Buffy still on the stand.


Her testimony began with the final chapter in her re-telling of events the day Nina Courtepatte was murdered.


Hours after having left the golf course where the 13-year-old now lay dead, Buffy, Joseph Laboucan and Michael Briscoe dropped off Pyro and Cindy and took a drive down Whyte Avenue.


Briscoe was at the wheel of his Ford Tempo when Buffy stated a discussion occured in the car.


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"Joe said it was such an adrenaline rush, and he asks, 'Do you know anybody else on Whyte Avenue?' "


“So he wants to go kill someone else,” Buffy told the court.


Buffy suggested a girl named Becky, who was known to frequent the Whyte Avenue strip.


Buffy said that Laboucan replied: “Oh ya, I know Becky. She trusts me.”


But they were unable to locate the girl, Buffy said. “We drove around but couldn’t find her.”



With the Crown's questioning of their witness completed, Buffy now faced cross-examination from Laboucan's and Briscoe's defence lawyers.


Charles Davison did his best to diminish his client's involvement in the Whyte Avenue plans, and got Buffy to admit it was possible Briscoe wasn't in the car when she and Laboucan discussed a second killing.


Buffy said Briscoe may not have known the reason they were looking for Becky and was possibly out of the car finding food when the subject came up.


The defence then attacked Buffy's credibility.


One of Laboucan's lawyer, Angela Alphonse, referred back to statements Buffy gave police in April 2005.


"You lie quite a bit, don't you?"


"What do you mean?" Buffy asked.


"You lie quite a bit, don't you?" Alphonse repeated.


Buffy replied, "Sometimes."


She also admitted on the stand she told police a doctor said she had psychopathic and sociopathic tendencies, but she had never been formally tested.


Buffy was questioned about her recollection of events and about her drug use around the time Nina was killed.


She said she used "coke, crack, meth, weed, hash and mushrooms" every day since she was 14, adding "everything except heroin."


"I couldn't think straight. I was sketching out. I thought I saw things that weren't there," she conceded, admitting she used to have hallucinations.


Further questioning revealed she had been living on the street from age 15 and often slept at West Edmonton Mall because her mother's partner beat her.


She sometimes stole clothes and food to survive.


The defence questioned Buffy about her personal beliefs.


While she wasn't into devil worship as such, Buffy said she had prayed to the devil, participated in burning Bibles, read books on witchcraft and used to suck her own blood after biting her wrists.


Buffy said she was also obsessed with the subject of murder and had told police her father was a former Hells Angels biker who supposedly had killed people.


The questioning then threw an odd light on the previous testimony of Jane Doe, Nina's best friend who was also taken to the golf course.


A week before Nina's murder, Buffy claimed she burned Bibles with Pyro and Jane.


When asked by Alphonse whether Jane planned "some sort of ritual killing," Buffy suggested: "It could be possible."


Buffy agreed when Alphonse asked if she believed murderers gain power from killing people.


"It's like when people sacrifice animals to God," she said.


Alphonse pressed Buffy about why she clearly recalled some details of Nina's murder and others not at all.


She said that on the night in question that Laboucan "froze" and was not involved in what occured.


Buffy said that he was.


The lawyer asked if her memory problems could have been caused by crystal meth use or "demonic possession."


Both were possible, Buffy said.


Buffy also said she couldn't afford glasses at the time, and could only see about one metre away.


She also said that Michael Briscoe seemed "awfully scared" when they were on the golf course.


It was also learned that at the time of Nina's murder, Buffy was pregnant.



The trial continued January 30th, 2007



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