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In a most rare scene at the Ottawa courthouse on Tuesday, a young police officer stood and read a victim-impact statement at a killer’s sentencing hearing. It wasn’t on behalf of the victim’s family, but rather the killer’s.
The officer’s older brother Daniel Adjetey-Nelson, a drug dealer with a thing for knives, was moments away from being condemned to prison after pleading guilty in the killing of much-loved Mitch Paquette, who was stabbed to death in front of his young grandchildren shortly after supper on Oct. 6, 2016 in Ottawa’s west end.
Victim-impact statements at sentencing hearings for killers are normally reserved for the victim’s family and friends, and introduced by the Crown. But in this case, seasoned defence lawyer Anne London-Weinstein filed the killer’s family statement and decided against reading it in a gallery filled with the victim’s friends and family, and there were many.
The statement from the killer’s family was intended for Ontario Superior Court Justice Lynn Ratushny to read before sentencing Daniel Adjetey-Nelson, 37.
But as it was being filed, the killer’s younger brother, Windsor, Ont., police Cst. Jamie Adjetey-Nelson stood and told court he wanted to read it aloud. The judge let the police officer read the statement on behalf of the killer’s family.
Before he read the statement, he turned to face the gallery and offered condolences and prayers to the victim’s family.
“My family can’t begin to understand your loss,” Adjetey-Nelson said.
The police officer described the murder, at the hands of his brother, as brutal and tragic. He said there were no excuses for what his brother did.
“I hope in the future to come, your thoughts of my brother pass and you focus on each other and the children,” the police officer told court.
He said his brother took a difficult path in life. His brother’s criminal lifestyle kept them apart.
On the night of the constable’s wedding, his older brother told him he’d be keeping his distance because he understood he had to change his ways to be part of his brother’s life.
The police officer couldn’t speak about his brother as the killer in the headlines, but rather the brother he grew up with in a big family, five sisters, five brothers. He said his brother had a big playful heart, especially when it came to children.
He also told court that it’s been difficult for both families, that of the victim and the killer.
Earlier at the sentencing, friends and family of Paquette read moving victim-impact statements, recalling the 55-year-old grandfather as a gentle soul who met a senseless, terrifying end.
They said Paquette lived a hard, but happy life. Everyone knew he had a learning disability except him. He couldn’t read or write but managed just fine as a mover, until age set in. He spent his last years in life helping his niece with her children and attending all of his medical appointments. He was learning how to be healthy and trying to become a better person, court heard.
Mitch Paquette, 55, was stabbed to death outside his Carlingtood townhouse.
They all said he was the uncle you could count on. They said Mitch Paquette was only one call away if you needed help, no matter how many buses he needed to take or miles he had to walk. And he always arrived with a smile.
They said he had a heart as big as the world and didn’t deserve to die.
Some said they’d never forgive Uncle Mitch’s killer, and others spoke of the agonizing pain he caused them.
And many spoke of the children, their lives shattered by the murder. Paquette was killed in the presence of his grandchildren — both under 10 at the time — outside his townhouse in the west-side Carlington neighbourhood. A handful of neighbourhood children also witnessed the killing.
The trouble began on Oct. 6, 2016 after Daniel Adjetey-Nelson complained that Paquette was smoking drugs around children outside. There was a push-shove, and then Adjetey-Nelson went inside a townhouse, put his boots on and grabbed a large kitchen knife only to return outside and stab an unarmed Paquette in the throat.
In one of the more intense victim-impact statements, the mother of Adjetey-Nelson’s children — who witnessed the murder — looked at him in the prisoner’s box and said, “Are you even going to look at me?” It wasn’t about her, but rather her children. The killer’s children.
One said he wanted his dad to stay in jail for fear he would sneak into their home and hurt them.
The other child drew a crying face. His mother held the drawing up to the prisoner’s box glass but Adjetey-Nelson kept his head down, as he did for all of the victim-impact statements that were read in court.
The judge had to ask him to lift his head up when she was sentencing him.
Moments before he was sentenced to life in prison for second-degree murder, Adjetey-Nelson stood and addressed the court and said he was sorry for what he had done.
“No matter what happened that day, I was wrong for what I did,” the killer said.
The man he killed was a good man who didn’t deserve to die, he said.
He also said he hoped one day his victim’s family, and his own, can forgive him.
Adjetey-Nelson was on bail for a knife attack on a woman when he killed Paquette.
He was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison and will be eligible for parole after serving for 10 years, 10 months and 2 days.
gdimmock@postmedia.com
twitter.com/crimegarden
查看原文...
The officer’s older brother Daniel Adjetey-Nelson, a drug dealer with a thing for knives, was moments away from being condemned to prison after pleading guilty in the killing of much-loved Mitch Paquette, who was stabbed to death in front of his young grandchildren shortly after supper on Oct. 6, 2016 in Ottawa’s west end.
Victim-impact statements at sentencing hearings for killers are normally reserved for the victim’s family and friends, and introduced by the Crown. But in this case, seasoned defence lawyer Anne London-Weinstein filed the killer’s family statement and decided against reading it in a gallery filled with the victim’s friends and family, and there were many.
The statement from the killer’s family was intended for Ontario Superior Court Justice Lynn Ratushny to read before sentencing Daniel Adjetey-Nelson, 37.
But as it was being filed, the killer’s younger brother, Windsor, Ont., police Cst. Jamie Adjetey-Nelson stood and told court he wanted to read it aloud. The judge let the police officer read the statement on behalf of the killer’s family.
Before he read the statement, he turned to face the gallery and offered condolences and prayers to the victim’s family.
“My family can’t begin to understand your loss,” Adjetey-Nelson said.
The police officer described the murder, at the hands of his brother, as brutal and tragic. He said there were no excuses for what his brother did.
“I hope in the future to come, your thoughts of my brother pass and you focus on each other and the children,” the police officer told court.
He said his brother took a difficult path in life. His brother’s criminal lifestyle kept them apart.
On the night of the constable’s wedding, his older brother told him he’d be keeping his distance because he understood he had to change his ways to be part of his brother’s life.
The police officer couldn’t speak about his brother as the killer in the headlines, but rather the brother he grew up with in a big family, five sisters, five brothers. He said his brother had a big playful heart, especially when it came to children.
He also told court that it’s been difficult for both families, that of the victim and the killer.
Earlier at the sentencing, friends and family of Paquette read moving victim-impact statements, recalling the 55-year-old grandfather as a gentle soul who met a senseless, terrifying end.
They said Paquette lived a hard, but happy life. Everyone knew he had a learning disability except him. He couldn’t read or write but managed just fine as a mover, until age set in. He spent his last years in life helping his niece with her children and attending all of his medical appointments. He was learning how to be healthy and trying to become a better person, court heard.
Mitch Paquette, 55, was stabbed to death outside his Carlingtood townhouse.
They all said he was the uncle you could count on. They said Mitch Paquette was only one call away if you needed help, no matter how many buses he needed to take or miles he had to walk. And he always arrived with a smile.
They said he had a heart as big as the world and didn’t deserve to die.
Some said they’d never forgive Uncle Mitch’s killer, and others spoke of the agonizing pain he caused them.
And many spoke of the children, their lives shattered by the murder. Paquette was killed in the presence of his grandchildren — both under 10 at the time — outside his townhouse in the west-side Carlington neighbourhood. A handful of neighbourhood children also witnessed the killing.
The trouble began on Oct. 6, 2016 after Daniel Adjetey-Nelson complained that Paquette was smoking drugs around children outside. There was a push-shove, and then Adjetey-Nelson went inside a townhouse, put his boots on and grabbed a large kitchen knife only to return outside and stab an unarmed Paquette in the throat.
In one of the more intense victim-impact statements, the mother of Adjetey-Nelson’s children — who witnessed the murder — looked at him in the prisoner’s box and said, “Are you even going to look at me?” It wasn’t about her, but rather her children. The killer’s children.
One said he wanted his dad to stay in jail for fear he would sneak into their home and hurt them.
The other child drew a crying face. His mother held the drawing up to the prisoner’s box glass but Adjetey-Nelson kept his head down, as he did for all of the victim-impact statements that were read in court.
The judge had to ask him to lift his head up when she was sentencing him.
Moments before he was sentenced to life in prison for second-degree murder, Adjetey-Nelson stood and addressed the court and said he was sorry for what he had done.
“No matter what happened that day, I was wrong for what I did,” the killer said.
The man he killed was a good man who didn’t deserve to die, he said.
He also said he hoped one day his victim’s family, and his own, can forgive him.
Adjetey-Nelson was on bail for a knife attack on a woman when he killed Paquette.
He was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison and will be eligible for parole after serving for 10 years, 10 months and 2 days.
gdimmock@postmedia.com
twitter.com/crimegarden
查看原文...
