Then open my parents’ apartment door. And I saw two officers. I was like, “Oh, I think that’s bad.” I want to know what’s happening. Why I want to know, I’m the mom. She said, “She’s dead.” When I got there, a lot of police were still there and a lot of people that were traumatized cuz they heard something, they saw something.
We learned pretty early that it was a 24-year-old at female. You get to see on different cameras that he just follows her to the street. And you get to see that really the plan was there. He waited for her and then followed her to the home. And it’s like you can live what happened almost live. They were all sorry that they couldn’t do anything, but there was nothing to do.
It was too fast, too brutal. Welcome to Crime Beat. I’m Anthony Robart. On October 19th, 2021, a Montreal woman living and working near McGill University was violently attacked and killed. With the horrific incident captured on video and numerous eyewitnesses, it was seemingly an open and shut case. But, as her family would soon discover, justice doesn’t always come easily.
Here now is Dan Spector with A Part of Me Died. Romaine Bonnier was drawn to the arts from a very young age. Broadway star, nothing less. She wanted to land stuff here in Montreal for her CV and then go off to New York. She decided to pursue singing and acting as a career with the enthusiastic support of her family.
She was at few days of her first professional paid gig and we were so proud. That was a Shakespeare. I was so proud because she worked so hard. It was 2021. Rouman was 24 years old. She was very driven in her career and her goals. No, no, no, no, no. We’re we’re supposed to check up on mom in like 10 minutes.
Yeah, she worked really hard. No, it’s not. Don’t say Along with her new acting gig, she was still helping out at the family business, a lighting store near the heart of downtown Montreal, just a few blocks from McGill University. She worked the front desk? Customer service and she took a lot of order by phone.
And that’s where she was on that chilly October afternoon in 2021. She finished at 4:30 and I finished at 5:00. So, we were at the door and I kissed her on the forehead. She was always tilt her head like that so I can kiss her there and I said, “I’m going to miss you tomorrow.” And uh that’s the last words I I told her.
Well, tomorrow became eternity. [laughter] Yeah. In-person learning had just recently resumed following a year-long pause during the COVID-19 pandemic. So, the neighborhood was bustling with students returning home from class. Rouman was living in the same apartment building as her parents, renting one of the units below them.
Shortly after the 24-year-old left work, her mother Jasmine closed up the shop and headed home, just a few minutes walk away in the Milton Park area, better known as the McGill Ghetto. Jasmine, she she was like coming from here through the home and she said there’s a lot of cars, police car on the hammer.
At first, it never occurred to them that there was a connection. And we didn’t know that it was like our daughter. As they’re discussing the commotion outside, they get a call from the hospital. The emergency doctor, she called me and she asked me, “What’s your relation with Romane Bonnier?” I’m I’m the mom.
So, she said, “You have to come to the hospital right now, to the emergency.” So, I put my my phone on speaker and I said, “I’m I’m with my husband. I want to know what’s what’s happening. I I want to know, I’m the mom.” She said, “She’s dead.” With their hearts racing, Romane’s parents started to understand all the sirens and commotion outside had something to do with their daughter.
We had this instant reaction of getting our things and go to the hospital, but the entire neighborhood was like blocked by police car. We want to get to the hospital because I have only one thing in my mind. I have to see Romane, you know, I have I have we have to go there. We have to go there.
We may, you know, we may hold her. We called an Uber and and the Uber was not able to even come near the building and instantly we figured out this is was probably the scene of what happened to Romane. And so, we went to the first officer near the gate. They they They were that kind of like everything was blocked and and said, “We’re the parents.
” And he he he just went like white. It It was like at 100 ft from our door. Everything happened so so near home. I was probably busy something else or finishing my day, but then the call came. A police source called me and said to me that the female was stabbed. She was in critical condition. She would probably die.
I quickly went to the place where it happened and it was kind of chaotic still at the time that I got there. It happened in a neighborhood where there’s a lot of students, a lot of people that witnessed what had happened. A lot of people were shaken. It was really violent and constant. It makes you scared for your safety.
This is a neighborhood full of students. When I got there, a lot of police were still there, a lot of people were still there and a lot of people that were traumatized cuz they heard something, they saw something. We learned pretty early that it was a 24-year-old uh female. And we were like like everybody around was her age, but we didn’t know at the time all the details of what had happened.
We felt that the people were shaken. We felt that the people were touched directly because it was a young lady. It happens right where they walk every day. And that’s what I think that was at the element that shocked a lot of people. Some people explained to us that they heard something from the window. Some others were really really close when that happened.
I saw him come from behind on the other side of the street and jump her and I didn’t realize that he had a knife. At first I thought he might have just been punching her, but then I realized there was a knife and I saw blood. We were kept away obviously a bit far from the scene, but we could see as we could get closer still the blood.
Romane’s sister, Marie-Lou, gets a call from her parents and quickly senses something is wrong. My dad called me and just told me, “Hey, I want to tell you something. You need to come home. I remember pulling on Sherbrooke and seeing the street lit up with police cars. Call it intuition, but for some reason I was like, it has to be something about my sister.
And I called her. I called her to try to get a response. Obviously, didn’t. Marylou navigates around the emergency vehicles and police tape. She arrives at Guy and Jasmine’s apartment. And then opened my parents’ apartment door. And I saw two officers. I was like, oh. Think that’s bad. He said, “Okay, I’m going to bring you to the command center.
You’re going to meet all the team, and after that, someone will escort you to the emergency, but we never went.” We wouldn’t be able to see her anyway. It was not very something very nice to see, either. My mom just said she was attacked. I still think about the cry. I was kind of wailing. And I talked about it with my brother at some point.
And he’s he told me this was the single saddest sound I’ve ever heard. I kept just thinking of what had happened, like the act, her literally dying. The victim was immediately transported to the hospital in critical condition. We sadly had the confirmation that she deceased at the hospital.
She was stabbed several times in the upper body. Her alleged assailant was arrested on the scene. He just went there, stabbed her, and stayed there in front of a lot of people in broad daylight, and he never tried to escape. He stayed there and got arrested. According to this other witness, the man who committed the crime didn’t try to escape.
The attacker stayed there until the police arrived. They didn’t run after him. He was just there, and they took him into the police car right here. They they said, “We arrest someone.” And I was like, “What? They arrest someone?” I couldn’t think of someone who wants to do harm to to Romane. She had a too good art.
She was too kind. Instantly, I asked, “Is his name Francois?” It went out of my mouth without thinking. Welcome back. The family of Romane Bonnier came home to find their Montreal neighborhood swarming with police cars and a cordoned-off crime scene. They would soon discover the young victim was their very own daughter.
We now return to Dan Specter with “A part of me died.” As the night advanced, we learned more and more details about it. The first info that came in was that it may be related to a boyfriend or ex-boyfriend. The investigator are on the scene to determine the link between the two. Possibly, two people who know each other.
First thing that came to my mind was my god, not another one. Because around that time, I remember covering in 2021 a lot of homicide. We didn’t know all the details at the time, but since I covered the crime beat, there has been a lot. And that was the element that crossed my mind. Another one. How quickly did you find out who she was? Quickly we could put a face on the victim because there was a lot of YouTube video and in the video she was singing, she was all smiling, and that’s the image that we saw of Romane quickly.
Romane Bonay will be remembered by many for her shining voice. Her friends who called her Romi say her musical talent is among the many things they will miss about their friend. She was like the definition of unique and an individual, you know, she like marched to the beat of her own drum.
She didn’t listen to anyone’s opinion of her, you know, like she knew who she was. With the tearful testimonies of Romane Bonay’s friends beginning to come out, she quickly became a household name. I think every time we get to see the face, it all gets more concrete. I think people relate more.
She was breathing happiness on those video. And now she wasn’t even breathing anymore. That was shocking. A memorial began to grow at the scene of the crime. Amidst the grief, questions about the suspect began to grow louder. It was more the next day that we started working to try to understand a bit more who was that guy, why did he attack her so violently in the street.
The motive of this aggression is still under investigation, but what we can confirm is that the victim and the suspect knew other? At the beginning, it wasn’t that clear. Was he her boyfriend? Was he her roommate? In the summer of 2021, Romane had been living in an apartment in the same building as her parents.
The 24-year-old was looking for a roommate, so she posted an ad online. A 36-year-old man named Francois Pelletier responded, and he moved in with an understanding that he would be moving out that September. Well, at first, we were not very okay with this idea. comfortable with No, but you know She’s an adult. She was like 24.
The family felt a bit uneasy with a man more than 10 years older than Romane moving into her apartment, but they respected her choice. Personally, I wouldn’t have invited a man whom I don’t know into my home. So, I was surprised, I think, at how she trusted this man or this platform.
And yeah, he’s a bit older, too. Yeah, but you know, at first, it was just a roommate, so In 2021, we went through a little law in our relationship where we had to find ourselves a little bit more. We just drifted apart a little bit, but the love was always there. I was working with her every day, so I was going with your roommate.
And she never mentioned him in other terms than roommate. I was walking the dog, and I saw Romane in the park at the McGill University on the campus, and she was like They were like holding hands. That afternoon, she introduced me to Francois Pelletier. She said, “This is my roommate, Francois.” I said, “Hi.
” He said, “Who are you?” I said, “I’m Romane’s father.” “Oh, all right.” So, he was like suspicious of what was supposed to be other than her father. So, I think You got a bad vibe. A bad vibe, yeah. On the afternoon of October 19th, 2021, the day that Romane Bonie was murdered, François Pelletier is seen hopping onto a city bus.
He goes and sits at the back and rides toward downtown Montreal. Around the same time Romane Bonie is finishing up her shift at her family’s business. Footage from different surveillance cameras edited together by police shows Pelletier’s movements. Pelletier gets off the bus and lurks near Romane’s workplace.
Here he’s seen crossing the street and walking out of the frame. He’s pacing back and forth, waiting. You get to see François Pelletier who just showed up to her work, wait for a long time. Romane Bonie says goodbye to her mother Jasmine and leaves the shop for the short walk back to her apartment.
You get to see on different cameras that he just follows her to the street. And you get to see that really the plan was there. He waited for her and then followed her to the home and it’s like you can live what happened almost live. She walks up the hill toward Sherbrooke Street.
Pelletier can be seen picking up his pace to catch up with her. He appears to be holding flowers in his left hand. Romane crosses Sherbrooke Street and enters the Milton Park area near McGill University. Pelletier jaywalks across the street at the top of the frame, jogging through traffic. He’s now just steps behind her. Romane continues her brisk walk toward home, now in the area packed with students.
Peltier flowers in hand, increases his pace to a run. Romain doesn’t see it coming. Welcome back. When 24-year-old Romain Bonie chose a new roommate for a short-term sublet, her family questioned her choice. An older man named Francois Peltier. Within months, the aspiring singer was dead, leaving her family to confront a killer who had gone to disturbing lengths to hunt her down that fateful day.
Here again is Dan Specter with a part of me died. I’ll make you so sure about it. God only knows what I’d be without you. She was very protective. She was always the bubbly one and the life of the party. We liked it when people couldn’t tell us apart. It’s kind of a because you’re twins, you’re kind of supposed to fool people.
She had a mole over her lips, so that was the defining trait for most people. But, you know, when we were both in our ballet attire with a bun and like the same costume, it would be hard to to tell us apart. Romain and and Marylou, I mean, obviously, as identical twins, there’s a a special bond, right? There’s a special bond.
It was very nice period for the family. When you found out you were going to have twins, I guess it’s always a shock. It was a good shock. It was a shock, but I already had two boys. It went well. It went very well. Well, I remember when we got the news, I had to sit down, but it was a marvelous Building me a home.
She loved to sing. Thinking I’d be strong then. As I do, too. I think we we got that part from early on childhood. We used to both sing in the bath together, Disney songs. She would do covers. Uh she even did a few original songs. And then I think to myself what a wonderful world.
I think she started that during the pandemic, the YouTube videos. She was training by herself. She was doing ballet in her apartment. At some point, she even had a trampoline in her apartment, which we made fun of all the time. I work with her mom, and I said, uh “How is your life?” And she said, “Oh, okay. Dad told you.
” “Told me what?” And then she said, “Oh, well, Françoise and I we’re together.” “Oh.” So, I said, “Okay, you’re together.” But she wasn’t telling everything. We were not informed that they were lovers, and she never said my friend. It was always our roommate. I met him once. We ate at their apartment. Seemed fine.
At some point, she called me to get some insight because she was wanting to step back from her relationship with him, and he was not giving her the space. She never said she was worried about her safety or anything. She was just asking if it’s normal, what should I do? And at that time, I told her, “Listen, if he does love you like he says he does, he needs to give you space.
So he was moving out and I must say that when he left, I was relieved. I met him when when he moved out at the door of the building. And I wish him good luck. So you didn’t know that there was a sort of complicated situation afoot or that he had been sending her these text messages and The complications became after after he left.
With her man saying that he was like insisting in texting her a lot. She wrote to him, she went to his new place. Despite all that, he was harassing her. So at one point I told her, “Why don’t you block this his contact?” And she said she she didn’t want to. She protected him because she told me that he told her that he could commit suicide.
In retrospect, I think she felt embarrassed or worried and didn’t want to worry us. And even her best friends at the time didn’t hear much about it. About 10 days before the murder, he went here and I just opened the door and I said, “Well, Amanda is not there. She has a rear soul.
” So he said, “Can you please tell her to answer me?” I said, “Well, maybe she needs a break, but I’ll do the message.” And um that’s it. You said he had a weird vibe. Did you feel something similar? Did you just sort of time. The first time he was very polite, solid guy, you know, good handshake. But the last time at the door, he was like a bit trouble, but in pain.
He was having a hard time with the situation, the relationship situation, I guess. She didn’t tell everything because we learned a lot of things during the trial. The suspect, Francois Pelletier, appeared in court Wednesday. He faces a single charge of first-degree murder. The 36-year-old will remain detained until his next court appearance.
We knew a few elements. She was working, she was getting home. That was the lines that we knew, uh basically. But when we went to court, in the trial, then we learned really uh all the events, uh like a play-by-play of what happened that day. The trial of a man accused of murdering a woman in broad daylight in the McGill ghetto in 2021 heard from multiple witnesses.
24-year-old artist Homa Baynie was stabbed to death. Ardan Spector was at the Montreal courthouse and joins us from there now. Dan, the jury was shown surveillance video of the crime. How did the courtroom react? Andrea, it was stunned and somber silence as the surveillance footage was played for the jury. As bystanders scream in horror, Pelletier tells them to mind their own business.
He apologizes repeatedly sitting over her as horrified witnesses call 911. One man approaches and Pelletier brandishes a knife in his direction. Police are on the scene in moments as the sirens grow louder. You heard all the screamings. You You see the final moments. That was really, really hard to see. And you get to understand she had no chance.
He had a plan. He wanted to kill her. And he said, “I’m sorry.” He was there to do that. And he never tried to escape. He stayed there and got arrested. That seems like that was the goal that he needed to accomplish at that time. Kill Roman Bunye. Mary Lou and her mother made the decision not to watch the video and still never have.
I knew it wouldn’t help me. Like I heard some stuff that I had wished that I hadn’t heard and so I was at a point in the trial where I knew it wouldn’t serve me well. I did not see it. I I did not want to see it. I didn’t want to hear her. I didn’t want to to see it. I I I stayed for all the witnesses who described what they saw.
Each of them, we thank them because they were all sorry that they couldn’t do anything, but there was nothing to do. Welcome back. François Pelletier is on trial for the murder of his former roommate Roman Bunye, who was killed in a daylight attack near Montreal’s McGill University.
But what unfolded in the courtroom would be a shock for the family all over again. Here again is Dan Specter with a part of me died. The jury heard testimony from six people who witnessed the alleged crime in the McGill ghetto which was described as dramatic, vivid, and extreme. Some came across the events as they were walking by.
Others watched the drama unfold through their bedroom windows. Witnesses recounted hearing a woman unleash blood curdling screams before seeing a man on top of her stabbing her multiple times. They said he screamed things like, “This had to happen. I’m so sorry. I had to kill her. I didn’t want to have to do this, but she has to die.
” One former McGill student said at one point she saw the man with flowers in one hand and a knife in the other. She and a friend ran toward the scene hoping to help. The man then brandished a knife in their direction telling them to mind their own business as they laid eyes on the woman covered in blood.
A growing crowd of people watched in horror screaming for the violence to stop, others taking photos or videos before police arrived and arrested the suspect without a struggle. According to court testimony, Pelchat stabbed Bougie more than two dozen times. 17 of those were in vital organs, so there was nothing anyone could do.
And those witnesses are for their life like us. They are They were traumatized. Traumatized. Did you didn’t watch the video? I did. And I will tell you why. It put an end to my fantasy. It put an end to me imagining the scene. It It was the the time where I’m I’m supposed to walk the dog.
So I could have seen her. seen her. I could have seen the murder. I mean I mean and this is the kind of stuff that was my nightmare. The first-degree murder trial permitted the family to finally learn the details of what happened, but getting there took a lot longer and was a lot harder than they ever expected.
You think that what you saw on TV is like the real thing, but the real thing is really worse. I remember checking the process and waiting. We were waiting to know when it would begin. Then more delays. Four years before the trial, four years where all your life is like on standby.
And it was all due to the fact that he was representing himself and then he was not representing himself and then he decided to have a lawyer and then he decided that he he was representing himself. For the family, when they hear that the accused is going to represent himself, they’re scared. It becomes a circus.
It’s a freak show, I’m sorry. And you’re wondering when is it going to stop? He never denied, but he never quite explained it neither in his defense. It was more like a strange, erratic theories. In court, François Peltier admitted to killing Romane, but pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.
Prosecutors theorized that he planned her murder because he could not accept the idea of her being with other men. It’s not in all the cases that you have such strong evidence where it’s not possible to deny it happened. All the images were there. So, the main point of this trial was more his state of mind than the actions because we could see.
Because Peltier had no lawyer to guide and question him on the witness stand, he attempted to defend himself by delivering long monologues. The guy would just go on and on and on towards so many directions that were often pointing to nowhere. It’s a shock. He has been allowed to question himself, and it last 5 days and a half.
In the sky, you’ll get by. If you smile through your fear and supposed to be a witch, and he was killing the witch. He was not killing Romane. She she had a double personality, and the the the second personality was taking over the the good one. He’s a soldier of God.
There’s a few phrases that have stuck with me. It was a 6-day monologue. And sometimes the judge would tell to stick to the point, but then it would start all over again. Peltier spoke about becoming obsessed with her soon after the pair became roommates. The Crown presented a vast collection of text messages and letters Peltier had written to Hamman.
He was jealous. He was possessive and so that we learn at the at the trial. That we didn’t know. That was kind of shocking to hear during the trial. She told me that he was texting her a lot, but I didn’t know that much. Marie-Lou had discovered handwritten letters and turned them over to police.
Yeah, I found them in her drawer at some point and they were like pages and pages. He would say like, “I love you. We need to work on this.” And like, “I can’t wait to have a life with you.” And like “We can prevail.” But very very insisting language. I remember speaking to one of Hamman’s friend that day and she would describe to me the relationship Hamman had with Francois Peltier that she wasn’t happy anymore. She described him as a monster.
Peltier described his murder plot as Operation Wrath of Heaven. He told the jury that Hamman had to die. There was no other solution. He said in court that he had to do it to protect her and that by stabbing her to death, he had prevented the apocalypse. At the end of the day, it was like, “My goodness, this is impossible.
This is like a sitcom.” And saying, “I’m still in love with her.” I mean, this is a nonsense. The relationship lasted 4 months and at the end of it, you decided she didn’t deserve to live. So, that really didn’t work well with me. And hearing him say he still loves her and she’s a queen. And it’s like, you don’t get to say that.
He was trying to make it as if my sister had something to do about it. And I’m still not sure if he was playing a like mentally ill person or he really believed that she had bewitched him. One of the expert witnesses called by the Crown was forensic psychiatrist Dr. Gilles Chamberland.
He said in his eyes a verdict of non-criminally responsible due to mental health reasons was not a possibility. That Peltier was in touch with reality at the time of the murder, just overwhelmed by pain and rage. And you said that he knew what he was doing. That he would just wouldn’t accept that the relationship was over.
I was relieved. I was like, oh, thank god somebody, you know, saw that. That he is not crazy and he’s just a very manipulative narcissist person. Peltier had been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder in childhood and had been hospitalized at age 18 after having suicidal thoughts following another breakup.
That led him to think in a compulsive way that she was like the woman of his life and and and from there it went south. More and more I was realizing that how can Roman get rid of this man because a judge and The prosecutor. And five five lawyers cannot control him.
How could she ever be able to say to that man, no it’s no, you know, it’s finished. I looked at the skies, running my hands over my eyes, and I fell out of bed. Welcome back. As Romane Bonay’s family grieved, her twin sister also had to face learning to live without her other half. Amidst their heartbreak, the family clung to hope that Romane’s murder would not be in vain by exposing a much darker systemic crisis.
Here now is Dan Specter with the conclusion of A Part of Me Died. Nearly four years after the events, Romane Bonay’s parents can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Ross Peltier, 39 years old, was found guilty this morning for the murder of their daughter in October 2021. He automatically gets a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years.
Did you feel a sense of justice? Yes, of course. But Yes and no. I mean, I was still in the shockwave of discovering our judicial system. Romane was murdered. There are 30 witnesses. He was there on the crime scene. He was arrested there. It’s It’s It’s simple in a way. It shouldn’t be. Yeah, um al- almost two months in the courtroom, you know.
The system gives the accused a lot of privileges. Bonay points out how in France people are not permitted to represent themselves in court when dealing with a serious criminal accusation. Why? Because you’re not a lawyer and it’s very hard to manage the 2,700 pages of the criminal code. You can’t realistically represent yourself, in my opinion on such serious charges.
I mean, it’s foolish and ill-advised. Criminal lawyer Eric Sutton says though he doesn’t think it’s a good idea for an accused to defend themselves against serious charges, it remains their right. Ultimately, the most important feature of a trial is to ensure that the accused has a fair hearing and that the verdict is defensible because he or she has had a fair hearing.
It could be therapeutic for some victims. It could be traumatic for other victims, but that’s not the paramount purpose of a trial. It’s to determine the guilt or innocence of an accused. The person may be so narcissistic that they believe that they are quite capable or they just want to grandstand. I had some communication with the Minister of Justice, Sean Fraser.
It appears that the Minister is open to modify the law or change the law or at least better frame this situation of people representing themselves. I understand the criticism, but it’s probably the best we can do because the system generally works. I don’t have any animosity against Hassoun Pensey.
I mean, he’s going to finish his life in prison. I mean, he’s just someone that our society didn’t detect at the beginning to taking care of. Even in those first few days following Romane’s death, as her family dealt with their unspeakable grief, they got a big boost from their community. The march began outside of FACE school, where Romane Bonnier was a former student.
Friends, family, and teachers thought it would be a good place to remember the 24-year-old budding singer. Romane was a per- artist and it was a way for us and the family to uh um give her a show, uh her last show. This whole day, I think I didn’t cry once. Because I was so happy that everyone came for her. We were lucky and we were fortunate to be able to fill this void with love we received from all those people we don’t know.
I want to thank them, that everyone. I was amazed. In as little as 23 years or 24, she had touched so many lives. Her death is considered Quebec’s 17th femicide this year. Those who attended Saturday’s gathering not only wanted to remember Romy, but also wanted to bring attention to the violence she and many other women have faced.
If we haven’t been in a violent situation, we all know someone who’s been in a violent situation. I think it’s time that we get together, talk about it, and make change. There’s a a huge question to ask ourselves as a society. What’s happening? What’s going around? I didn’t think femicide was for a family like us, but I was wrong.
Femicide can touch anyone and everyone. How can we prevent this? How is it happening again? How is it going to stop? We have to get out in the streets and say it’s enough. It’s really hard for those women to quit and to leave, and especially because they know that around separation or imminent separation is the moment where it’s the most dangerous for them.
There are red flags here and there. I think we have to talk more about coercive control because those signs are really important. They are present in almost all the cases of femicide. They are before the femicide happens. Gibanye has become an advocate for victims of femicides and for reform in the justice system to make the painful process easier for families.
Romane’s mother Jasmine says when walking home past the scene of the crime, she’ll often touch this tree, a little hello to her daughter. I’m writing a book right now. I’m writing about my experience with the Romane. I feel her. I can sense her energy. So, that’s that that helped me a lot and I want some people who experience the the same thing maybe helped.
I’m preparing a documentary on twinless twins, so twins that lost twins. Me and Romane, sometimes it would come up of like who’s going to go first. And it would always end up in us bawling in each other’s arms because is it better to be left alone or to leave? We were born together.
It’s kind of a a new concept almost for us to not live with the other. So, I hope to help twins to make peace with this grief. If her death can change something in the lives of people, you know, it wouldn’t have been completely in vain. It’s Belle, the princess from the Beauty and the Beast, and it was the favorite princess.
When we went to Japan, I brought her. I brought the figurine with us and I have few pictures in Japan with with [laughter] Belle the middle of the street. As Raman. And during trial, I had her also. How do you want her to be remembered? And how do you remember her? Raman the princess, the actress, the singer.
I’ve played all my cards. [music and singing] And that’s what you’ve done, too. The wannabe Broadway star. And she had the talent to do so. And this is how I like to remember her. The winner takes it all. The loser standing small. Beside the victory. That’s her destiny.
I remember at the few days after her death, I had this dream where we were together and I was asking her question and she described me what happened and I I I asked her, “Did you suffer?” And she said, “A little. It went very fast. I went out of my body in in in like less than a minute.” She wanted everyone to feel good.
And I think that was her sole purpose. [laughter] I want people to know that she was kind-hearted and caring for more people than she could have known in her life. Such a generous light in this world. Just a wonderful soul. I looked at the skies, running my hands over my eyes.
François Pelletier has begun the process of appealing the guilty verdict based on the argument that the trial judge erred in his instructions regarding the murder and more specifically how his mental state was likely to negate the specific intent to kill. For a man’s family, keeps her memory close and plans to continue advocating for justice reform and femicide awareness in her honor.
Thank you for joining us tonight on Crime Beat. I’m Anthony Robart. Want more episodes of Crime Beat? Listen to the Crime Beat podcast now for free on Apple podcast, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcast. And for past episodes of Crime Beat, go to the Global TV app, visit globaltv.
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