Man accused of McGill ghetto murder references synchronicity, quantum physics during testimony
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François Pelletier continued his very confusing testimony Thursday in the trial where he is accused of stabbing Romane Bonnier to death in the McGill Ghetto in front of several stunned witnesses more than three years ago.
Pelletier, 39, is acting as his own lawyer in the case at the Montreal courthouse, where he is charged with first-degree murder. On Wednesday, he made an opening statement to the jury during which he bluntly admitted he killed the 24-year-old woman by stabbing her 26 times.
After he delivered the opening statement, he was sworn in and began to testify in his own defence. Without the aid of a lawyer, he set off on what has been a very long monologue.
No one is asking Pelletier questions and while he told the jury he wants to explain what happened to Bonnier before they decide his fate, his testimony has been full of asides about things like what songs he was listening to after Bonnier agreed to let him be her roommate and he became obsessed with her.
'Let's just say there are many layers to this reality we are living,' he told the jury at one point.
He said he was listening to Radiohead's Creep, Chris Isaak's Wicked Game and a song called Sunspots by Nine Inch Nails.
'(Sunspots) is a rather powerful song,' he said,
Besides the songs, Pelletier referenced synchronicity and quantum physics and claimed both were involved in his attraction to Bonnier.
He also made references to his mental health, which led prosecutor Marianna Ferrero to object twice. Superior Court Justice François Dadour sustained both of the objections, a sign that Pelletier is not supposed to refer to his mental health. On Wednesday, Pelletier told the jury he would have preferred that a psychiatric evaluation on his mental health had been part of the evidence.
Ferrero later made another objection when she noted that Pelletier has used the word 'f--k' many times while testifying.
The Crown's theory is that, during 2021, Bonnier placed an ad seeking a roommate to share the rent on an apartment she was already living in. Pelletier replied to the ad and Bonnier agreed to let him live with her. They had a brief relationship, but Bonnier eventually put an end to it. Pelletier was unable to accept the breakup and texted Bonnier frequently.
The Crown alleges that on Oct. 19, 2021, he staked out her workplace, a store owned by her parents, and followed her after she left before he stabbed her to death.
'She was a sophisticated schemer,' Pelletier said Thursday morning while claiming, as he does often, that Bonnier sometimes dressed in a way to attract him.
'She was dressed to kill. She was dressed to kill me,' Pelletier said during another part of his testimony. 'She was wearing a red dress that I remember to this day.'
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