A Mascouche resident guilty of having murdered his spouse, possibly in the hope of solving his money problems, has just failed in his attempt to obtain a new trial.
• Read also: Tributes paid to Jaël in front of an ice assassin
• Read also: The jury said Benoit Cardinal guilty of premeditated murder
“The court rejects the appeal,” decided the highest court in Quebec this Friday in Montreal.
By these simple words, the panel of judge thus sealed the fate of Benoit Cardinal, who will indeed have to serve a life sentence for the murder of Jaël Cantin, in the family residence in January 2020.
According to the evidence presented at the trial, the 39 -year -old murderer had many debts at the time. Cornered at the foot of the wall by his creditors, he had to resign from his post in a youth center.
However, he was the only beneficiary of life insurance of a million dollars, in the event of the death of his spouse for the last 16 years.
A few days later, Ms. Cantin was found in a pool of blood.
“The victim was murdered in the family home that she shared with the caller and their children. The identity of the murderer is a central question at the trial, “said the panel of judge the court of appeal.
Jaël Cantin Photo taken from Facebook
-Sexual assault
During hearings, Cardinal was also under investigation concerning allegations of sexual assaults on teenage girls. Cardinal would even have revealed his deadly plans to one of them.
Cardinal had not testified before the jury. But at the time of the pleadings, his lawyer underlined the possibility that “the proof was compatible with the involvement of a third person” on the spot, and whether it could have committed murder.
The defense thus hoped to raise the famous reasonable doubt and thus have Cardinal acquitted.
However, the defense had made it warn that she could not make such an assertion since the proof on this subject was insufficient.
Courtesy photo of the courtyard
Good instructions
In the jury, the judge gave them instructions, including “not to be distracted by the suggestion of the real involvement of a third person”.
A day later, Cardinal was found guilty of first degree murder, earning him life prison without the possibility of parole before having served a minimum of 25 years of penitentiary.
Cardinal had attacked this decision, hoping that this would earn him a new trial and a new chance to get out of it. Except that the judge was not mistaken in her directives.
“She correctly evaluated the proof […] And gave the jury in accordance, ”concluded the Quebec Court of Appeal.
Cardinal’s last hope would be to bring his cause before the Supreme Court of Canada, hoping to be heard.
