Pierre Parent

Case overview

Pierre Parent pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the 2010 death of Catharine Oliver, his Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor.

Timeline

• 20 July 2010 10:04 a.m. — Belleville Police attended a residence on Edgehill Road in response to a report of a sudden death and found Catharine Oliver deceased in her residence.
• Spring 2009 — Catharine Oliver met Pierre Parent at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting; Oliver agreed to sponsor Parent.
• 8 April 2011 — Belleville Police Service arrested one male and one female.
• 11 April 2011 — Pierre Parent was scheduled to appear in Weekend and Statutory Holiday Court for a bail hearing.
• 11 April 2011 — Judy Carol DeJong was scheduled to appear in Weekend and Statutory Holiday Court for a bail hearing.
• July 16 — One day before Oliver died, Oliver bought Parent groceries only to find him going through her purse; a struggle occurred.
• 1:17 a.m. July 17 — Parent returned; neighbours heard a scream as there was another struggle.
• July 20 — Concerned friends found Oliver’s body in her home.
• July 2, 2012 — Justice Richard Byers sentenced Parent to 11 years in prison.
• July 3, 2012 — Parent’s manslaughter plea and the sentencing were described in court.
• July 4, 2012 — An editor’s note provided Parent’s testimony transcript from the sentencing proceeding.

Background

Catharine Oliver thought Pierre Parent was worth saving. Oliver and Parent met at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in the spring of 2009. Oliver became friends with Parent and agreed to sponsor him. The court heard Parent was also addicted to crack cocaine. Oliver provided moral support, let Parent live with her briefly, and gave him about $30,000.

The offence

Parent pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter. A theft charge was withdrawn.

The prosecution described that Oliver’s diary indicated “she was infatuated with Parent and that he was aware of this and used this to his advantage.” The prosecution also described that on July 16, one day before she died, Oliver bought Parent groceries only to find him going through her purse; they struggled and he escaped with $60. Oliver wrote in her diary that night:

“I will never give him money again — I swear it — THE END”

Neighbours heard a scream after Parent returned at 1:17 a.m. on July 17, and another struggle occurred. Friends found Oliver’s body in her home on July 20.

Investigation

Dr. Christopher Milroy, a forensic pathologist, testified at the preliminary hearing that Oliver had three broken ribs and other injuries. The prosecution said the injuries could have been consistent with falling. The prosecution also said Milroy ruled Oliver may have died either from having her head pushed into the carpet, obstructing her airway, from her chest being compressed, or a combination of the two. The cause of death was listed as “unknown.”

Arrest

On 8 April 2011, Belleville Police Service arrested one male and one female. Both were known to the victim.

Pierre Michael Parent (40 years) of Belleville was charged with one count of Second Degree murder, one count of Theft over $5000.00 and one count of Possession of Property Obtained by Crime over $5000.00.

Judy Carol DeJong (43 years) of Belleville was charged with one count of Theft over $5000.00 and one count of Possession of Property Obtained by Crime over $5000.00.

Trial and plea

Parent pleaded guilty to manslaughter. He pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.

Hastings County assistant Crown attorney Jodi Whyte outlined the case. Whyte said a diary entry supported the prosecution theory and described theft connected to the relationship.

Parent later addressed Justice Richard Byers, calling Oliver “my surrogate mother.” Parent said:

“I admit full responsibility for her tragic death,”

Defence lawyer Patrick Hurley said he took issue with “nearly every fact” presented by Whyte and stated there was no guarantee Parent would’ve been found guilty at trial. Hurley said:

“There is no murder weapon, no confession,”
“There are no wounds; there are scrapes and abrasions. “There is a prospect of rehabilitation,”

Justice Richard Byers said both lawyers made valid points and that the plea was significant. Byers said there was “no suggestion that at any point in the days that followed that he woke up and said, ‘My God, what have I done?’” Byers said Parent used Oliver’s money and tried to cover his tracks.

Byers thanked both Hurley and Whyte, calling them “my best lawyers” and stated that others would have pushed the case into a trial. Byers praised Belleville Police Sgt. Peter Goulah, who investigated with Det. Const. Jill McAuley. Byers said:

“If he never has to do another case, he can rest assured that was a good one,”

Sentencing

The prosecutor asked for a sentence of 14 years in prison; Hurley lobbied for nine to 10. Justice Richard Byers sentenced Parent to 11 years.

Byers granted credit for pretrial custody at a rate of 1.5 times the time served, meaning Parent would serve nine years and two months. Byers banned Parent from possessing weapons for life and ordered his DNA to be recorded in the national criminal databank.

Hurley and Whyte said the sentence was fair.

Appeals

No appeal information appeared in the provided material.

Outcome

He was sentenced to 11 years in prison on July 2, 2012 after pleading guilty to manslaughter.

Aftermath

Oliver’s friend, who would give her name only as Dianne D., called the sentence fair but “not good.” Dianne D. said:

“I believe in forgiveness,”

Dianne D. said Oliver was survived by a sister, two stepchildren and a nephew, and described her as “an extremely intelligent woman — kind, thoughtful, scrappy.”

Whyte said Oliver had spoken to Oliver’s friends last week and that they were shocked and frightened that this could happen at the hands of a friend inside her own home. Whyte said:

“They are shocked and frightened that this could happen at the hands of a friend inside her own home,”

Byers expressed a similar concern and said:

“You hate to say, ‘Don’t ever get involved in a good cause because you might get hurt.’ But there’s a reason why the police say, ‘Don’t stop to pick up hitchhikers,’ because every so often the hitchhiker does something horrible,’”
“Old people need to be careful about becoming a victim."

Byers told Parent:

“I am reminded that this woman saw something in you worth saving,”
“She might have been foolish, but she wasn’t stupid.”

Byers said:

“I still hold out hope that almost anyone can be rehabilitated,”

Byers added he did not think Parent went to Oliver’s home intending to kill her.

Other details

Parent was described as tall, heavyset and clean-shaven with very short black hair. He arrived wearing a blue and white checkered shirt with baggy green pants.

The case proceedings described that Oliver bought Parent groceries and found him going through her purse, and that Parent escaped with $60. The proceedings also described that within half an hour Parent bought $300 worth of crack. Parent later stole three rings and a fur coat to be sold for drug money, planted fake notes at Oliver’s house, and bought more items with Oliver’s credit card.

The court heard Parent had earlier been convicted of fraud for using Oliver’s credit card.

Parent’s testimony (verbatim)

Parent’s testimony transcript included the following exchanges and statements.

THE COURT (Byers): Now your turn, sir.
MR. PARENT: Thank you, Your Honour, I don’t want this to sound any less heartfelt because I’ve written a lot of stuff down, over the last 15 months I’ve had a lot of time to think. I’ve just got a couple points and I’d like to....
THE COURT: Feel free to read it because…
MR. PARENT: Thank you, Your Honour.
THE COURT: …you are not familiar, at least I assume, with public speaking, particularly when you are the accused. I want to make sure you get every point to me that you want to get.
MR. PARENT: Thank you for the opportunity, I appreciate that. I do appreciate the opportunity to be able to address the Court here today on record. I’ve had 14, 15 months to think about all my actions, just from this situation and from my past actions as well. I appreciate the efforts that Belleville Police put into this, I understand the resources and the time that were spent in this investigation, what Mr. Goulah went through in the investigation, and I meant them no disrespect whatsoever. I wish to express my deepest regrets and sympathies to Ms. Oliver’s family and friends. I admit full responsibility for her tragic death. The relationship between Ms. Oliver and I, although tainted by me was one of the best things to have happened to me. She was a friend, she was a surrogate mother, and my sponsor in the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. I learned a lot from her, valuable lessons that still apply to my life today. Throughout my adult life, drug addiction has been an ever present and negative factor to my existence. My behaviours and actions were seriously effected by this. Addiction was involved in every one of my wrongdoings in my life, it consumed me, and held me hostage. I had an ugly, expensive, and insatiable addiction to feed, but in the end, I know that the blame and the responsibility for everything fully rests on me. I led a selfish, self-centred, and self-seeking existence. I was dishonest, I stole, cheated, and manipulated. My actions are responsible for Ms. Oliver’s death. I am responsible. Now each and every day I live with overwhelming shame, guilt, and remorse over this, and over my other past wrongdoings. I never thought it could come to this. I always knew right from wrong. I was raised properly by two loving and caring parents. I had a good education, and every opportunity to succeed at life, but I became a drug addict. I discovered that addiction is a progressive and continuing disease, everything and everyone I touched was affected by this disease. I understand that incarceration in the Federal Correctional system is next for me. I am terrified, this is the first time in jail. Just to touch on jail a little bit, as he mentioned I was incarcerated in 23 ½ hour super protective custody. Because of the allegations against me I was assaulted on several occasions, several occasions, that’s why I’m in super protective custody. And there are drugs available no matter where in the jail, I refused to stay away from them, I did not waste my time in jail. That package of my courses and all that, sounds somewhat irrelevant to many people, but I’ve heard from forces or sources in the jail, from the Chaplain, from the guards, from correctors of these lessons that no one in the history of Quinte (Detention Centre) has done as much as I done with those courses. That’ll prove that. Every one of those courses are between four and six hours each, and I’ve got over 150 completed courses. I did not waste my time a single day in there and I plan to continue this. I intend to continue disciplining myself to the pursuit of positive change and recovery. I never want to go back to my old ways, and I know I’ve said this over and over, and you know, I have no way to prove this, but I know I never want to go back to my old ways, I never thought it would come to this. There’s no excuse for what I did. I fully plan to pursue my educational studies, to continue maturing in Christianity and sobriety. I’ve already been doing my best to practise these principles in all my affairs, I have also begun to undertake steps to make amends for some of my past wrongs through written correspondences. I believe I still have a chance at life, Your Honour ... Ms. Oliver will never get a chance to see the man I could have and should have always been, I hope my parents have that opportunity before they pass away. Please take all that into consideration.
THE COURT: Thank you, sir.

The description of Parent’s demeanour during sentencing included that he bowed his head almost between his knees and later wiped his eyes with his handcuffed hands.

Parent was described as pleading guilty to manslaughter in the 2010 death of Edgehill Road woman Catharine Oliver, 87, his Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor, benefactor and former landlord. Parent was described as 42 at the time of sentencing.