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Moments after his mother grabbed him as they argued about his being late for school again, Chris Gobin choked her until she could barely breathe, then went to the kitchen, got a steak knife and started stabbing her.
“I was trying to finish her off,” Gobin told Ottawa police in a chilling confession.
Gobin, now 19, pleaded guilty on Thursday to second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 12 years.
Chris Gobin, 19, killed his mother, 49-year-old Luce Lavertu, inside the family’s Orléans home in April 2014.
The videotaped confession hours after the killing on April 22, 2014, was broadcast in court as Gobin sat in the prisoner’s box, his head down.
The trouble began shortly after 8 a.m. in normally quiet Orléans. Gobin, then 18, was running late for class at St. Peter High School and wanted to stay home. He had severe anxiety about going to school, where he had long struggled. He kept to himself and mostly stayed alone in his bedroom playing video games.
That morning, his mother, Luce Lavertu, 49, started yelling at him and threatened to kick him out of their home. Gobin says she grabbed him by the neck and attacked him.
He pinned her to the floor in the front foyer and started choking her.
“I don’t know what I was thinking,” the teen said matter-of-factly in the police interview. “She tried to fight back and I grabbed a knife from the kitchen. I was trying to finish her off.”
Luce Lavertu and husband, Jacques Gobin.
He stabbed her repeatedly and slit her throat. He then covered her head with a garbage bag, then tied her hands behind her back to make it easier to move her body and dragged her into the living-room. He then wiped the knife on his shirt sleeve and left both on the breakfast table.
He stayed in the home for hours, pacing and wondering what to do. He tried to pick the lock on his father’s gun case, and when that didn’t work he went at it with an axe. He was thinking of killing himself, he said.
Instead, he texted a neighbour to buy marijuana, which he smoked next door around 11 a.m.
He returned home and minutes later, he noticed that his mother’s friends had arrived for a planned visit. Gobin locked all the doors, hid inside the house and ignored the doorbell. When Lavertu didn’t answer the door, her friends grew worried and called her husband at work.
Jacques Gobin took a cab straight home and armed himself with a baseball bat in the garage before entering his St. Bruno Street home.
He called out for his wife and son, then made the grim discovery in the living room. His son, armed with an axe and hiding in the bathroom, could hear his father on the phone with 911, and when he heard him say, “I think my son’s in the house”, he dropped the axe and fled, running down the street in pyjamas and sock feet.
He ducked behind a neighbour’s house and started jumping backyard fences, looking for a place to hide from police, now racing around the neighbourhood in search of the lonely boy who had killed his mother. He walked out from between two houses and surrendered, then started to weep when officers quickly handcuffed him.
In his own words, read by his lawyer Samir Adam, the teen expressed deep remorse for killing his mother.
“I love my mom. I miss my mom. I think about her every day. I hope she can forgive me, wherever she is. I’m sorry for the suffering I’ve caused,” he wrote. He also said he hopes he can one day be “closer” with his father.
In the courtroom on Thursday, his grieving father addressed his son directly in an emotional victim-impact statement.
“Luce and I did our best at being your parents. We had a nice home and provided for you and your sister. When you showed an interest in something, whether football, martial arts, we signed you up.
Jacques Gobin, the father of Chris Gobin, talks to reporters outside the Ottawa Courthouse on Thursday.
“We didn’t enforce our own rules on video-gaming because that was the only thing at the end that interested you. It was clear since an early age that school was a struggle for you, but Luce and I believed it was important that you at least finish high school. It always bothered Luce and me that you were always so unhappy, that you never smiled, but we were hopeful that you would get past what was bothering you so much.
“It was heartbreaking to us that you were so alone by shutting everyone out. I guess you wanted to sort things out on your own. But you couldn’t work things out on your own, and things just kept building up,” his father continued.
He noted that his son has Forgive and Forget tattooed on his arm.
“I’m afraid we can’t forget what happened, nor will we forget Luce. We will forgive you so long as you’re doing your best, as long as you’re showing you care about something productive, as long as you’re letting people try and help you, as long as you’re not shutting people out, especially the ones who care about you the most. Because when you stop doing all of those things you are forgetting what happened.”
Gobin had struggled for years with mental-health issues, and by his own admission, he feared he was a psychopath. In the months leading up to the unplanned killing, Gobin had become withdrawn, suffered from depression and missed school regularly. The teen is now on medication for anxiety and depression. He remains withdrawn, his lawyer told court, but is now showing moments of clarity.
Superior Court Justice Patrick Smith described the murder as horrific.
“Nothing could be more tragic and brutal … She did nothing to deserve this.”
The judge acknowledged the killer’s remorse and said he now seems ready to accept help for his problems.
“My hope for you is that you realize that you have hope … Don’t let this ruin your life. There’s a long way to go.”
The judge also addressed the victim’s husband and family friends, saying the sentencing hearing is just a “small step in the long journey of healing.”
“Don’t let this horrific tragedy swallow up your lives,” the judge said.
gdimmock@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/crimegarden
查看原文...
“I was trying to finish her off,” Gobin told Ottawa police in a chilling confession.
Gobin, now 19, pleaded guilty on Thursday to second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 12 years.
Chris Gobin, 19, killed his mother, 49-year-old Luce Lavertu, inside the family’s Orléans home in April 2014.
The videotaped confession hours after the killing on April 22, 2014, was broadcast in court as Gobin sat in the prisoner’s box, his head down.
The trouble began shortly after 8 a.m. in normally quiet Orléans. Gobin, then 18, was running late for class at St. Peter High School and wanted to stay home. He had severe anxiety about going to school, where he had long struggled. He kept to himself and mostly stayed alone in his bedroom playing video games.
That morning, his mother, Luce Lavertu, 49, started yelling at him and threatened to kick him out of their home. Gobin says she grabbed him by the neck and attacked him.
He pinned her to the floor in the front foyer and started choking her.
“I don’t know what I was thinking,” the teen said matter-of-factly in the police interview. “She tried to fight back and I grabbed a knife from the kitchen. I was trying to finish her off.”
Luce Lavertu and husband, Jacques Gobin.
He stabbed her repeatedly and slit her throat. He then covered her head with a garbage bag, then tied her hands behind her back to make it easier to move her body and dragged her into the living-room. He then wiped the knife on his shirt sleeve and left both on the breakfast table.
He stayed in the home for hours, pacing and wondering what to do. He tried to pick the lock on his father’s gun case, and when that didn’t work he went at it with an axe. He was thinking of killing himself, he said.
Instead, he texted a neighbour to buy marijuana, which he smoked next door around 11 a.m.
He returned home and minutes later, he noticed that his mother’s friends had arrived for a planned visit. Gobin locked all the doors, hid inside the house and ignored the doorbell. When Lavertu didn’t answer the door, her friends grew worried and called her husband at work.
Jacques Gobin took a cab straight home and armed himself with a baseball bat in the garage before entering his St. Bruno Street home.
He called out for his wife and son, then made the grim discovery in the living room. His son, armed with an axe and hiding in the bathroom, could hear his father on the phone with 911, and when he heard him say, “I think my son’s in the house”, he dropped the axe and fled, running down the street in pyjamas and sock feet.
He ducked behind a neighbour’s house and started jumping backyard fences, looking for a place to hide from police, now racing around the neighbourhood in search of the lonely boy who had killed his mother. He walked out from between two houses and surrendered, then started to weep when officers quickly handcuffed him.
In his own words, read by his lawyer Samir Adam, the teen expressed deep remorse for killing his mother.
“I love my mom. I miss my mom. I think about her every day. I hope she can forgive me, wherever she is. I’m sorry for the suffering I’ve caused,” he wrote. He also said he hopes he can one day be “closer” with his father.
In the courtroom on Thursday, his grieving father addressed his son directly in an emotional victim-impact statement.
“Luce and I did our best at being your parents. We had a nice home and provided for you and your sister. When you showed an interest in something, whether football, martial arts, we signed you up.
Jacques Gobin, the father of Chris Gobin, talks to reporters outside the Ottawa Courthouse on Thursday.
“We didn’t enforce our own rules on video-gaming because that was the only thing at the end that interested you. It was clear since an early age that school was a struggle for you, but Luce and I believed it was important that you at least finish high school. It always bothered Luce and me that you were always so unhappy, that you never smiled, but we were hopeful that you would get past what was bothering you so much.
“It was heartbreaking to us that you were so alone by shutting everyone out. I guess you wanted to sort things out on your own. But you couldn’t work things out on your own, and things just kept building up,” his father continued.
He noted that his son has Forgive and Forget tattooed on his arm.
“I’m afraid we can’t forget what happened, nor will we forget Luce. We will forgive you so long as you’re doing your best, as long as you’re showing you care about something productive, as long as you’re letting people try and help you, as long as you’re not shutting people out, especially the ones who care about you the most. Because when you stop doing all of those things you are forgetting what happened.”
Gobin had struggled for years with mental-health issues, and by his own admission, he feared he was a psychopath. In the months leading up to the unplanned killing, Gobin had become withdrawn, suffered from depression and missed school regularly. The teen is now on medication for anxiety and depression. He remains withdrawn, his lawyer told court, but is now showing moments of clarity.
Superior Court Justice Patrick Smith described the murder as horrific.
“Nothing could be more tragic and brutal … She did nothing to deserve this.”
The judge acknowledged the killer’s remorse and said he now seems ready to accept help for his problems.
“My hope for you is that you realize that you have hope … Don’t let this ruin your life. There’s a long way to go.”
The judge also addressed the victim’s husband and family friends, saying the sentencing hearing is just a “small step in the long journey of healing.”
“Don’t let this horrific tragedy swallow up your lives,” the judge said.
gdimmock@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/crimegarden
查看原文...
