Saturday, April 01, 2006

Press Clippings--Part XXIV

'She didn't stab her own self': Murder defendant cross-examined. Boyfriend of dead woman struggles to explain what happened on fatal night

By Sue Montgomery

The Gazette, March 30, 2006

During five hours of questioning by police, Martin Morin-Cousineau was unable to explain how a knife blade ended up in the back of Kelly-Anne Drummond's head, his murder trial heard yesterday.

"Marty, she didn't stab her own self in the back of the head," crown prosecutor Helene Di Salvo read from a transcript of the police interrogation.

Then she read Morin-Cousineau's reply: "I know that, that she didn't stab herself. ... The knife must have flipped over or something. ... I don't freaking know, man."

Morin-Cousineau, 31, is accused of second-degree murder.

Drummond, 24, died Oct. 5, 2004, two days after she had been found lying on the kitchen floor of the Pierrefonds apartment she shared with the accused. A 9.5-centimetre blade was lodged in the base of her neck.

Morin-Cousineau said he was eating in the living room on Oct. 3 while Drummond ate her dinner standing at the kitchen counter.

They were arguing about $30 Morin-Cousineau owed the landlord. "She was questioning you about the $30. Why?" Di Salvo asked yesterday.

"You'll have to ask her that," the accused replied, as people in the packed courtroom gasped."

She can't answer," Di Salvo said.Morin-Cousineau said he grew tired of the "nagging" that night and shouted, "Enough!" throwing his hands in the air. His fork fell on the couch, but he doesn't know where his knife landed.

During his videotaped statement to police, Morin-Cousineau threw his arms to the side, palms facing in, 23 times in demonstrating what he did when he said "Enough." Yet in the courtroom, he made a gesture with his left hand - the hand that held the knife - where the hand flipped out and upward.

In his call to 911 that night, the defendant described what happened. "We got in a little bit of a fight," a breathless Morin-Cousineau said. "I went - I got mad. I got mad. I went to throw - she got scared. She sort of slipped, fell into the stove."

Asked by Di Salvo if he saw her trip, Morin-Cousineau replied: "No."

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