Paris Laroche (L) is accused of murdering Sidney Mantee (R) and dismembering him (Facebook)

By Ian Holmes

murder trial

Nanaimo woman’s murder trial scheduled to resume next month

Mar 7, 2024 | 12:25 PM

Editors note: This article contains graphic descriptions of violence. Reader discretion is strongly advised.

NANAIMO — Following a lengthy adjournment in mid February, a high profile murder trial of a local woman is scheduled to conclude next month.

The trial of Paris Jayanne Laroche is scheduled to finish between April 17 and 19 at BC Supreme Court in Vancouver after the Crown, defence and presiding judge aligned their schedules to wrap up the proceedings.

Laroche, 28, is charged with first degree murder and interfering with the remains of her former boyfriend, 33-year-old Sidney Joseph Mantee.

She confessed to multiple people to murdering Mantee in the Nanaimo apartment unit they shared in in an early morning March 2020 attack.

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She also admitted to several witnesses who testified at her trial to dismembering his remains and dumping the body parts throughout Nanaimo over the course of several months.

Laroche’s legal team presented a self-defence argument at trial.

Paris Laroche has remained in custody since charges were laid against her in 2022. (Submitted photo)

She was charged in March 2022, about 11 months after the trial heard Laroche confessed to a close friend, shifting the RCMP’s investigation from a missing person’s file to a homicide probe.

Laroche allegedly smashed Mantee’s head with a hammer as he slept face-down on a living room mattress, then slit his throat.

The trial relayed an undercover police sting operation in which Laroche directed police to body parts of Mantee she placed throughout Nanaimo, including parks.

Laroche remains in custody.

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ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes