The mother of 20-year-old Clemence Beaulieu-Patry, the 20-year-old Maxi store clerk who was stabbed to death after a shift in April 2016, spoke to the media on Wednesday as a second day of jury deliberations wrapped up in the trial of the man charged with her murder.
Randy Tshilumba has been charged with first-degree murder in the case. The jury is being asked to choose from one of four possible verdicts: guilty of first-degree murder, guilty of second-degree murder, guilty of manslaughter, or not criminally responsible for Beaulieu-Patry's death.
Beaulieu-Patry was stabbed several times on the evening of April 10, 2016. Tshilumba was a high-school classmate of Beaulieu-Patry's, but they didn't know each other well.
The victim's mother, Nathalie Beaulieu, told CTV Montreal that the six-week trial has taken a toll on her family.
“Her gratuitous, violent murder was painful, and we spent a year grieving her. Now we’re going through it again with the trial,” she said. “Every day we find ourselves completely exhausted. The loss in a gratuitous, violent manner such as this — I went to the store to pick her up after work when I didn't hear from her, it was a big shock. It's been a lengthy mourning, and the legal process brings us back."
The Crown contends Tshilumba was obsessed with his victim, and had gone to visit her at the store on multiple occasions. His lawyers, however, are pinning his defence on the fact that Tshilumba was mentally unwell at the time of the killing, and that he believed Beaulieu-Patry had been stalking him.
Beaulieu, meanwhile, thinks she understands what happened that night. “He clearly wanted to kill her,” she said.