Benoît Cardinal, the partner of Mascouche woman Jaël Cantin, was found guilty of first-degree murder at the Joliette courthouse on Saturday.
The verdict of the 12 jurors was announced after two days of deliberation and 15 months of legal proceedings.
Cardinal, 34, was accused of having killed the mother of his six children in the middle of the night in January 2020. She was 33-years-old.
Mascouche police were called to a home on des Anglais Road at 4 a.m., where they found Cantin and Cardinal with injuries. Their six children were also inside the home.
READ MORE: Partner of deceased Mascouche woman charged with 2nd-degree murder
The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) police say the pair were taken to hospital, where Cantin was pronounced dead. Cardinal’s injuries were not life-threatening.
The defense argued that an intruder broke into the home and inflicted the fatal injuries on Cantin. Jury members leaned in favour of the Crown prosecution’s case that Cardinal killed his partner.
Five of the six children were called to testify.
The victim’s father, Gaétan Cantin, made a brief statement following the jury’s decision.
“Today is not a time of celebration or satisfaction,” Cantin said. “A feeling of sorrow is in all of us. Everyone loses in the situation.”
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Crown prosecutor Caroline Buist said the verdict comes at the right time, when public trust in the justice system is low.
“It shows that the justice system is there, convictions are possible,” she said.
Cardinal had previously been an employee at a youth protection centre in Laval. In a statement, the centre told Global News that staff was alerted to alleged inappropriate behaviour by Cardinal weeks before the incident in December 2019, resulting in his suspension.
–with files from the Canadian Press and Kalina Laframboise, Global News