Crown refutes self-defence claims for Nanaimo woman on trial for murder/dismembering ex-boyfriend

On the first day of the trial in January, the 28-year-old Laroche pleaded not guilty to first degree murder and interfering with the remains of 32-year-old Sidney Joseph Mantee.

Laroche admitted to undercover police and multiple witnesses that she cut up Mantee’s body into many pieces and dispersed his remains around Nanaimo parks and the waterfront – facts which were not disputed at trial.

“I’m obviously not going to be spending a lot of time on that count,” Orris said in reference to the interfering with a body charge. “Ms. Laroche plead not guilty to both counts, but I’m not going to be arguing strenuously with regards to count two.”

Orris said evidence presented throughout the trial demonstrated Laroche had faced continues forms of abuse at the hands of Mantee, including physical encounters.

He referenced how Mantee bragged to Laroche about his violent history, including unsubstantiated claims he got away with killing somebody and had gang connections.

Orris said Laroche didn’t report abuse she faced to police because she didn’t think she would be believed.

He said Laroche was isolated and manipulated by Mantee.

The threat of violence toward his client was “always imminent” and Laroche’s actions were not unreasonable given the circumstances, Orris told the court.

Orris previously submitted Mantee’s mistreatment of one of Laroche’s cats the night before the killing put his client over the edge.

“She undertook the acts in order to defend herself…Having been trapped in the situation she was in and feeling that way, she had no alternative.”

Laroche’s attachment to her pets featured prominently in the defence’s case.

The presiding judge agreed to accept evidence from a sociology and criminology professor regarding the role threats and abuse towards pets play in intimate partner violence dynamics.

Orris said there’s no evidence of pre-meditated murder in this case, stating Laroche did not use a gun when she had access to firearms suggests the act was spontaneous.

“The knife was only used because Mr. Mantee was not dying quickly enough. If this was a planned act then the knife would have been used instantly, or perhaps a firearm would have been used…”

Crown submissions

Crown prosecutor Nick Barber adamantly argued Laroche’s actions were purposeful, pre-planned and not acts of self-defence.

He opened his submissions by focusing on chilling transcripts captured during a multi-day undercover police sting operation in late April and May, 2021 in which Laroche admitted to killing and dismembering Mantee.

Barber described hours of interactions with police during three interactions with a pair of undercover police officers as “the best and most credible version of events” offered by Laroche.

“You want him off the earth? He’s off the earth, I smashed his head in with a hammer,” Laroche told the officers posing as the father and brother of a previous girlfriend of Mantee’s.

The accused told an undercover officer that it took about a minute to kill Mantee, starting with multiple strikes to the head with a small graphite sledgehammer as he slept on a living room mattress of a Rosehill St. apartment.

Barber said an element that stands out in the undercover police investigation is the casual nature Laroche described killing and dismembering Mantee, as well as her lack of remorse

“So pretty much what I had done is once I had brought the stuff over here and grabbed the hammer I just ‘wack, wack, wack’ and then I had to slit his throat because he wasn’t going quick enough,” Laroche told police at her apartment unit.

Barber said while Laroche suspected her cat had been abused by Mantee, she couldn’t confirm to undercover police that was the case the before he was killed.

Laroche’s actions were clearly unreasonable given the type of threat presented by Mantee, Barber argued.

“If she had been afraid or felt that she needed to act in self-defence there were so many options. She could have gone to work, gone to the authorities, or gone to friends or just done nothing because Mr. Mantee was asleep.”

Barber honed in on the accused’s post-offence conduct, noting the same knives used to dismember Mantee were used by Laroche to prepare her meals.

“None of these are indicative of somebody who is suffering from severe trauma, not only that, it’s concerning that she doesn’t. She’s killed her former partner and lived with the body and dismembered it over many months.”

Closing arguments wrapped up, as did the trial, on Friday, April 19.

Justice Robin Baird will now work on rendering his decision.

He informed the court that the case will return to supreme court on Wednesday, June 26 to establish a date for his decision.

“I’m going to go back to the Island and I’m going to think about this long and hard,” justice Baird told the court.

Local news. Delivered. Free. Subscribe to our daily news wrap and get our top local stories delivered to your email inbox every evening

ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes

by Ian Holmes

Crown refutes self-defence claims for Nanaimo woman on trial for murder/dismembering ex-boyfriend

More Local News