Evidence circumstantial, but guilt undeniable in 2022 rural slaying, Crown says in murder trial’s closing argument

Exactly where, when and why 20-year-old Mackaylah Gerard-Roussin was murdered may never be known, but a damning trail of circumstantial evidence should leave no doubt she died at the hands of Josh Benoit, a judge was told Wednesday.

“The evidence as to planning is overwhelming,” Crown attorney Renee Lagimodiere told King’s Bench Justice Candace Grammond in a closing argument. “There is ample evidence… this (killing) was not hasty, rash or impulsive.”

Gerard-Roussin was found buried in a storage tote on an ATV trail near Woodridge, Aug. 28, 2022. She had been beaten and stabbed to death.

Benoit, 24, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.

“But for the convergence of unusual circumstances,” including witnesses who say they saw a man alleged to be Benoit digging the hole were Gerard Roussin’s body was later unearthed and the chance sighting of her body in Benoit’s car, “this case could have ended up very differently,” Lagimodiere said.

Benoit and Gerard-Roussin had known each other previously and lost touch when they “reconnected” in the summer of 2022, Lagimodiere said.

Benoit’s plan to kill Gerard-Roussin started Aug. 22 with a trip to a Canadian Tire store in Steinbach, where security video captured a man wearing sunglasses and latex gloves and alleged to be Benoit purchasing a Mastercraft Heavy Duty tote, three bags of concrete, a baseball bat, a tarp and rolls of duct tape.

The man paid in cash. A later analysis of Benoit’s cellphone revealed it had been turned off at the time the purchases were made.

Three days later, Benoit messaged Gerard-Roussin at about 2:30 p.m. to ask what time she finished work. She told him 8:30 p.m.

Benoit turned his cellphone off for nearly five hours, during which time prosecutors allege he drove to a rural property near provincial road 58 East and Highway 210 and dug a “clandestine grave,” its dimensions exactly matching those of the tote Benoit purchased three days earlier.

Witnesses testified seeing a man that evening digging at the hole and a grey Mazda later confirmed as belonging to Benoit.

That night, Benoit messaged Gerard-Roussin, asking if she wanted to “hang out.” When Gerard-Roussin suggested picking him up in her car, he quickly rejected the offer, telling her he was already in the vicinity of her Winnipeg apartment and it would be a “waste of gas.”

“Clearly, Mackaylah driving herself was not part of Josh Benoit’s plan,” Lagimodiere said.

Again, Benoit turned off his phone.

“The Crown submits that at some point after picking Ms. Gerard-Roussin up, Josh Benoit killed her,” Lagimodiere said.

Family members sobbed as Lagimodiere described Gerard-Roussin’s many injuries, including two fatal stab wounds to the throat.

The afternoon of Aug. 27, Benoit drove to his mother’s home in Steinbach. He had a flat tire and called his dad for help fixing it.

Alexandro Ronaldo testified he went to the garage and finished installing a new tire when Benoit’s mother called out and told him to look in the trunk. He opened the trunk and saw a hand peeking out from a bin covered with a tarp.

Ronaldo said while he was on the phone to 911 his son fled in the car.

Benoit was arrested that same day following a police chase that ended with Benoit setting fire to his vehicle. Police retrieved the charred end of a baseball bat from the car.

Court heard no testimony as to what might have motivated the killing.

“The court may be wondering why Josh Benoit did the things the Crown says he did,” Lagimodiere said, noting motive is not requited to prove murder.

“Clearly motive is lacking in this case,” she said. “The evidence does not tell us why (Benoit) made a plan, deliberated and then killed Mackaylah Gerard-Roussin. But the Crown respectfully submits the evidence does tell us he did all of these things.”

Defence lawyer Jeremy Kostiuk argued the Crown provided only a “superficially attractive” theory that did not discount other possible explanations for Benoit’s alleged involvement in the killing.

“What is the evidence that he murdered her?” Kostiuk said, arguing evidence Benoit picked up Gerard-Roussin at her apartment was “proof of opportunity,” not evidence he killed her.

He said there is no proof Benoit was alone, opening up the possibility someone else killed her.

Kostiuk said evidence Benoit was in possession of a body was evidence he interfered with human remains, not that he killed anybody.

One possibility “is that he did not kill her, but buried her to protect the person (who did),” he said.

Kostiuk’s comments prompted angry muttering in the court gallery; two people walked out.

Grammond will deliver her verdict May 5.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca