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The defense lawyer and the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions, the DPCP, presented their pleadings to the members of the jury Friday morning at the Rouyn-Noranda courthouse.
The DPCP believes that Sylvie Rochon deliberately killed her sister Denise Rochon on January 30, 2022. Sylvie Rochon's lawyer pleads for her part that her client was attacked by her sister Denise and that he was acting in self-defense.
It was the defense lawyer, Me Elise Pinsonnault, who first addressed the 13 members of the jury present in the courtroom of the courthouse.
She indicated that it is reasonable to believe that her client feared for her safety and that she acted to defend herself and not to take revenge for something.
During Sylvie Rochon's testimony, she explained that on January 30, 2022, she was attacked by a person who tried to hit her with a lamp. A fight between her and this other person would have followed. Sylvie Rochon emphasizes during her testimony that it was dark in the room and that she never recognized that it was her sister during the altercation. She said she realized it was her once she was lying on the ground.
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Still according to her testimony, Sylvie Rochon hit her sister several times in the face with the help of a lamp, wrapped the electric wire around her neck in addition to inflicting injuries on her eyes. She stopped hitting the person when they stopped moving, explained Me Elise Pinsonnault in court. She reiterates that her client was not aware that it was her sister.
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The Rouyn-Noranda courthouse.
Sylvie Rochon's lawyer emphasizes that the scale of the response cannot be compared to that of the attack because her client felt in danger.
A person in this situation is likely to make errors of judgment in the force that is required, she told jurors.
She asks jurors to also question the fact that her client contacted the emergency services while her sister was still alive. Would she have made such a gesture if she had intended to kill her?, she emphasizes.
Me Elise Pinsonnault recalled that the prosecution was not able to demonstrate a motive, or to determine why Sylvie Rochon would have had an interest in killing her sister Denise Rochon ?
For his part, the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions, represented by Me Philippe Comtois, considers that the testimony of Sylvie Rochon should be rejected by the members of the jury.
This is a totally implausible and not credible story.
A quote from Me Philippe Comtois
Sylvie Rochon is charged with 2nd degree murder. Me Comtois believes that the seriousness of the injuries suffered by Denise Rochon and the absence of injuries on the body of her sister Sylvie suggests that the fight was one-sided.
Is it reasonable to believe that Denise Rochon was beaten to death, he mentioned while addressing the jurors. Me Comtois specifies that the number of blows and the location of the blows suggest that death was desired. The victim had head trauma, 25 head lacerations, a torn ear, a fractured rib and a detached mandible, according to the pathologist who analyzed the victim.
Me Comtois also doubts Sylvie Rochon's version concerning the fact that she never recognized her sister during the battle she describes.
The members of the jury were released until Tuesday morning. Judge Jean-Louis Lemay, of the Superior Court, will then send them his instructions in the morning. They will then be isolated in order to render their decision.
Sylvie Rochon murder trial opens with jury selection
