Faint hope hearing cross examination puts details in spotlight

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This article was published 18/01/2024 (653 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The killer of a woman pregnant with his child was needled Thursday by a Crown prosecutor over lies and misleading statements to police and officials, questioning why he just this week admitted distressing details to a jury hearing his early parole application bid.

Nathaniel Plourde was 19 when he murdered 24-year-old Roxanne Fernando on Feb. 15, 2007, beating her with a wrench after he agreed to go on a Valentine’s Day date as a ruse.

Fernando, a co-worker at a Main Street fast food restaurant with whom he had a brief relationship, was placed in the trunk of a car and taken to another secluded area.

Plourde and two accomplices abandoned Fernando, still breathing but badly injured, in a snow-filled ditch on Winnipeg’s edge, where her frozen body was found days later, after family reported her missing.

He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in 2009, and was sentenced to life without the ability to apply for parole for 25 years.

This week, Plourde told Court of King’s Bench Justice Ken Champagne and a jury hearing his “faint hope” application — a Criminal Code provision that allows certain offenders to seek the ability to apply for parole earlier than they were sentenced to — he committed the murder while riddled with anxiety over the pregnancy and resentment toward Fernando.

On Wednesday, Plourde, 36, revealed Fernando had agreed to have an abortion, provided he spend time with her afterward, but said he committed the crime out of concern of hurting a new relationship.

On Thursday, Crown prosecutor Mike Desautels had Plourde admit he had been considering a “faint hope” application since he began his prison sentence in 2009.

“You want to have some glimmer of hope and that was my hope for a lot of years,” Plourde said during the cross examination, but added he began to doubt in 2018 whether he should try for the judicial review.

Desautels then pointed out the lies and misleading statements Plourde made during an interview with police detectives shortly after the slaying and to corrections officials throughout his prison sentence, including not revealing the true number of times he struck Fernando with a wrench and lying he had been abusing drugs and alcohol prior to the killing.

“If the victim’s family finds out you weren’t telling the truth about something, that might actually make it worse, not better for their healing?” Desautels said.

Plourde agreed.

“Thinking of the sentencing, if they had heard it all, and you pled guilty on those facts and then you (are) coming to this hearing and saying: ‘I know I said I hit her five times but it was actually more like 20 times,’ that could almost make it worse for the people hearing it,” the Crown said.

Desautels showed the jury of five men and seven women photographs of where Fernando’s frozen body was found near Mollard Road and Ritchie Street, and diagrams of the catastrophic injuries.

Her skull was fractured nearly ear to ear, Desautels told court.

The Parole Board of Canada would ultimately decide whether to grant Plourde’s release, should the jury agree to allow him an early parole application at the end of the 15-day hearing that began last week.

Defence lawyers Carley Mahoney and Ashley Anderson have told court Plourde has done significant work to rehabilitate himself while incarcerated, including developing a deep relationship with Christianity and partaking in numerous programs and educational opportunities.

The hearing has logged testimony from corrections employees, including two chaplains who have worked with Plourde while he’s been imprisoned, among others.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca