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Closing arguments made in murder trial

Closing arguments made in Monica Spence and Daniel Debassige second-degree murder trial as jury deliberation approaches.
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THUNDER BAY – Defence lawyers for two people standing trial for murder argued the death of Richard Spece was likely accidental, while the Crown prosecution maintained the 62-year-old was “bloodied and beaten” by bodily harm “so serious and dangerous” it led to his death.

The closing arguments heard on Tuesday at the Thunder Bay Courthouse in the trial of Monica Spence and Daniel Debassige – each charged with second degree murder – were the final opportunity for the lawyers to state their case to jurors ahead of their deliberations.

The 12 members of the jury – eight men and four women – who will decide the case previously heard evidence the victim was found on the bedroom floor of his Secord Street apartment in the early hours of Dec. 21, 2014. Richard Spence was determined to have died as a result of the combination of facial trauma, alcohol intoxication, blood in his airways and obstructed breathing and severe heart disease.

Christopher Watkins, the lawyer for Monica Spence, referred to the transcript entered into evidence from a 2007 court hearing where Richard Spence pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting his client. She did not deserve to be a victim, Watkins said, labelling Richard Spence as a predator.

Watkins told the jury his client was a victim of a non-consensual, unprovoked sexual assault during the hours prior to the body of Richard Spence being found and fled the apartment in an “utter panic” where there was nobody to help. Spence had testified she passed out on the bed in the bedroom and woke up naked from the waist down with Richard Spence on top of her on the living room couch.

“That’s a terrifying situation for anybody to be in,” Watkins said, adding the body was found with pants down below the waist and belt partially undone.

The lawyer also reminded the jury about evidence from a forensic scientist that the body of Richard Spence was found to have DNA from which Debassige could not be excluded as the source.

Watkins argued while Monica Spence testified and admitted to punching and kicking Richard Spence, those actions were in self-defence and the victim was still alive and called out to her as she left.

A precise time of death has not been able to be determined and argued it can’t be ruled out the death was either caused by an accident or somebody else, Watkins added.

Spence had testified while she and Debassige arrived at the apartment together earlier in the day, he was not there when she woke up and was not sure when he left. She also told the court when she got outside the door she saw a dark figure she could not identify. She next saw Debassige after she had moved a couple of blocks away from the apartment.

Francis Thatcher, the lawyer representing Debassige, argued the four factors identified as leading to the death of Richard Spence could have all happened without another person being involved. There is no evidence to prove the dark figure was even at all involved, let alone Debassige.

Thatcher recalled testimony from pathologist Dr. Kona Williams, who had acknowledged the injuries were not inconsistent with a fall. The lawyer raised the possibility of Spence striking his head against a door while in a “drunken stupor.”

“There is no evidence you can rely on beyond a reasonable doubt that can satisfy you that this death was anything but an accident,” Thatcher told the jury.

He also said there was no evidence a number of the 74 separate injuries identified by the pathologist were related to the death nor any firm indication of when they occurred.

Thatcher insisted the DNA of Debassige found in the apartment and on the victim – such as the penile swab, underneath Richard Spence’s fingernails and blood on the wall – could have been transferred by Monica Spence.  

“There is nothing that links that blood on that pillar to anything else that happened in this apartment,” Thatcher said.

Thatcher also attacked testimony from witnesses who told the court Debassige claimed he “killed a rapist,” accusing them of collusion and said their version of events “stinks” and was “a lie.” The lawyer took issue with how closely their accounts aligned and the nearly two-week delay for either of them to inform police about what they were supposedly told.

But Crown prosecutor Rob Kozak countered their testimony revolved around “four simple words” that Debassige was treating as a “badge of honour.”

Kozak again showed the jury members post-mortem photographs of the victim to illustrate multiple severe facial injuries, arguing this wasn’t the case of a man “bouncing off doors” or falling out of bed.

“This may not be a beating death but this is a beating that resulted in a death,” Kozak said.

The prosecutor said the lack of blood in the living room would indicate the level of violence progressed and escalated in the bedroom, where there was blood on the walls, bed and floor and where the body was found.

Kozak said the location of the bedroom in the apartment left Richard Spence confined with no way out, taking the altercation beyond self-defence and the level of violence was more than reasonable force.

Seeing his girlfriend without clothing and those clothes on the living room floor by the couch could have triggered the assault, Kozak argued.

“Who has the motive? Daniel Debasige,” Kozak said, showing the jurors a photo taken of the suspect shortly after his arrest on Jan. 1, 2015 where he has a visible injury to a knuckle on his right hand.

Kozak also questioned why they wouldn’t have called police to report the sexual assault, like Monica Spence had done seven years earlier. He answered it was because they knew something else happened in the apartment.

The jury is expected to receive instructions from Superior Court Justice Danial Newton and begin their deliberations on Wednesday.



About the Author: Matt Vis

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