deadmonton 2005 - nina courtepatte - briscoe-laboucan trial - february 5th, 2007

delicious save to del.icio.us | submit to Digg


WARNING



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.


<< february 2nd, 2007 | briscoe-laboucan trial | february 6th, 2007 >>



The third week of the trial began where the second left off – with Michael Briscoe's girlfriend Cindy on the stand and under attack from defence counsel.


Joseph Laboucan's lawyer Laurie Wood did his best to suggest Cindy's involvement in Nina's rape was greater than she let on in her testimony and that it was fueled by jealousy.


CTV Edmonton image

Court heard that Cindy's prior relationship with Laboucan ended without a formal breakup.


When Laboucan returned from Edmonton from Fort St. John, British Columbia in March 2005 to pick up an insurance cheque, he met up with his ex-girlfriend and her new friend Briscoe, and moved in with them at the Windmill Motel.


Wood put it to Cindy that she hit Nina with a wrench and held the 13-year-old girl down to be raped because she had flirted with Laboucan.


Earlier testimony from Jane Doe indicated Nina was sitting in Laboucan's lap and was kissing him on the way out to the golf course on April 2nd, 2005. Jane admitted she was kissing Laboucan too.


Laboucan's lawyer told the court that Cindy wanted to get back together with Laboucan and that Nina's flirting upset her.


“No,” Cindy denied.


“I had a bad temper, but I never got mad at her. I didn't really care if he was flirting with Nina or not.”


Wood related a portion of Buffy's testimony in which she claimed Cindy told Nina that she was “pissing her off” and then ran up and hit Nina with a wrench.


“I didn't run at her with the wrench,” Cindy said, adding that it was Laboucan who told her to hit Nina.


“I was forced to,” she said.


Court heard that in a videotape of Cindy's statement to police in April 2005, she said Laboucan had threatened to do what she was told or get "hurt."


On the witness stand, Cindy said she couldn't recall making the statement.


"You knew what was happening with Nina was wrong. Right?" Wood asked.


"I didn't know at the time," Cindy replied.


“Did you know hitting Nina with the wrench was wrong?” Wood asked.


“I wasn't thinking about right or wrong at that time.”


During testimony before the weekend break, Cindy said she had only a minor involvement in the rape, saying, “I think at one point I held her hand,” and that afterwards she wanted to vomit.


Under cross-examination, Cindy changed her story and admitted she held Nina down by the wrists.


“I was above her, kneeling at her head, holding her wrists down in the grass,” she testified.


Wood asked what was happening at the time.


“Joe Laboucan was having sex with her,” Cindy said.


Wood then asked if she was sure it wasn't Pyro.


“No, it wasn't,” she answered.


The lawyer wondered that with six other people at the golf course, did any of them tried to stop Laboucan from raping and killing Nina?


“No,” she said.


Wood revisited the defence notion that the mall rats had conspired to frame Laboucan with Nina's rape and murder. Cindy denied it.


“We did not discuss anything we were going to say to the police.”



The Crown broke up its parade of juvenile witnesses and equally-young co-accused females with testimony from an RCMP DNA expert.


Peter McLaren told the court a vaginal swab taken from the body of Nina Courtepatte found no DNA from either Joseph Laboucan and Michael Briscoe.


Instead, DNA and semen from a third man was found.


Pyro's DNA was found on the swab and his semen was found on the crotch area of Nina's pants.


DNA from another male was also identified on Nina's pants. The tests eliminated Briscoe as the source, but they did not exclude Laboucan.


McLaren calculated the odds that other individuals in society might be possible contributors to the DNA sample on Nina.


If you were looking at Canada’s white population, he said, there was a one in 1,900 chance that an individual would have the right genetic make-up to be a contributor.



The trial continued February 6th, 2007



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