Lawyer argues client not criminally responsible

If a 47-year-old man is found guilty of killing his mother, he should be found not criminally responsible, the man’s lawyer told a Brandon court.

Gabriel Paul Heymans is on trial for second-degree murder in the death of Maureen Heymans, whom court heard he shared an apartment with at 264 McDiarmid Dr. for seven years.

The Crown and defence wrapped up the trial on Monday afternoon with closing arguments.

Crown attorney Rich Lonstrup said the court knows from a pathologist’s evidence that “chop wounds” to Maureen’s head caused her death. An autopsy report showed she had five chop wounds in her head, along with several cuts on her right arm, hand and one of her fingers, he said.

“There can be no reasonable doubt that the hatchet, as it was used here, was either intended to cause death as the outcome in the moment or that bodily harm was intended with an overwhelming likelihood of death,” Lonstrup said.

He said the issue lies in the identity of the attacker.

Lonstrup said it’s noteworthy that Heymans, unprompted, told police his mother’s death must have occurred between 5:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 26, 2023, while he was sleeping.

He told police when he woke up around 5 a.m. and ate, his mother was asleep. He went back to bed, and when he awoke again, she was on the floor with his hatchet nearby.

Police discovered her body on Nov. 3, 2023.

Lonstrup said the time frame Heymans told police is consistent with evidence that Maureen’s time of death preceded the discovery of her body by several days, given her body’s state of decomposition.

He added that surveillance footage showed Maureen alive for the last time on Oct. 24, 2023, while she was checking her mail.

“One of the key things that comes out of this evidence is what we call exclusive opportunity,” the Crown said.

Lonstrup noted Heymans’ comments to police that neither he nor his mother had anyone over at the apartment or had friends.

“He says no one else would have known that he kept a hatchet in a particular bag in his bedroom immediately adjacent to the mattress he slept on,” Lonstrup said.

Someone would have had to enter the apartment, go into Heymans’ bedroom, find and remove the hatchet from the coin-filled bag that Heymans kept it in and killed his mother without waking the accused, despite him telling police he was a light sleeper, Lonstrup said.

“Maureen Heymans would have to have been brutally slayed with multiple swings or chops of a hatchet into her head area,” Lonstrup said. “Whatever happened here was not a silent kill.”

He said the Crown did not believe this was a reasonable possibility.

Lonstrup also spoke about Heymans’ post-offence conduct, including that he didn’t tell anyone about what happened to his mother.

“What he did from Oct. 26 in the morning until … the body was discovered, was live regularly within the home,” he said. “He most certainly did not react to his blood-splattered mother in any way suggesting she needed medical attention or a police investigation.”

While Heymans does have limitations because of a brain injury, Lonstrup said, he was “quite capable” of giving collateral details and, at times, very precise and corroborated details.

On the day Maureen’s body was discovered, a maintenance man knocked on the door before entering and alerting police of the body, the Crown said. When police arrived and knocked on the door, they received no response either, despite Heymans being inside, Lonstrup said.

When police entered and made eye contact with Heymans, he moved to another room, where he was arrested, he said.

“Police are surely the people any innocent bystander would be grateful to see in these circumstances,” Lonstrup said.

“The Crown says his behaviour is entirely consistent with someone who doesn’t want her body to be found, someone who has no innocent explanation for the body being there.”

The Crown said Heymans proceeded to make “blatantly fabricated, false assertations” to police that supported his version of events, which showed he had the necessary mindset for murder.

He specifically noted Heymans comment to police that he thought his mother had been sleeping.

Lonstrup said that while it’s frustrating that no one knows the reason for the attack, the lack of motivation shouldn’t be given any weight.

Crown attorney Reid Girard continued the closing arguments and said if the court finds Heymans guilty, he should be found criminally responsible.

Girard said the issue of criminal responsibility has been raised, but defence hasn’t called evidence to support that he lacked criminal responsibility.

Girard agreed that Heymans does have a neurocognitive disorder, but said it wouldn’t have made him incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of the act.

Defence lawyer Bob Harrison argued that if Heymans is found guilty, he should be found not criminally responsible.

Harrison said if Heymans had been fabricating, he most likely would have come up with better explanations, as his evidence didn’t make a lot of sense.

“If he was fabricating evidence, his explanation hurts his case. It doesn’t help him,” he said.

Harrison pointed out that Heymans stayed in the apartment, left the hatchet and didn’t clean up any of the blood in the apartment, which showed he wasn’t trying to evade police.

He explained Heymans didn’t seek help because he thought she was sleeping.

“It’s not realistic … It’s certainly not what a normal person would say,” Harrison said, adding that for someone with mental health issues, it could be realistic.

Heymans was asked by the police if he heard voices in his head, and he said no. Harrison said this is an example where he could have fabricated and said he did.

Harrison said the fact that Heymans lived in the apartment and continued with his daily routines, despite his mother’s decomposing body, showed he’s someone who wasn’t criminally responsible.

Justice Elliot Leven reserved his decision.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com