WARNING: This story contains graphic descriptions of intimate partner violence.
After months of┬аabuse, threats, manipulation and control by her on again, off again partner, 24-year-old Marie “Mimi” Gabriel was done.
She told 40-year-old Jean-Bruno┬а“Berno” Fenelon┬атАФ 16 years her senior, who started seeing her when she was 17┬атАФ to leave the south Ottawa home she’d fled to with their two young children months earlier, with help from social services.
But it wasn’t working. She texted the┬аman she was seeing┬аthat Fenelon wanted to fight her, that he wouldn’t leave.┬а
And she spoke to her closest friend┬аNorlande Tassy by phone, who┬аheard Gabriel’s┬аlast known utterance:
“Get the f–k out of my house!” she┬аscreamed. Then nothing. Tassy stayed on the line, but never heard Gabriel’s voice again.
It was the morning of March 26, 2022. Gabriel was found dead by police on the concrete floor of her basement two days later, in a dried pool of her own blood.
A long day of deliberating
Late Friday night, in a┬аdarkened, near-empty courthouse, a jury of nine women and three men found Fenelon guilty of first-degree murder after a┬аtrial that spanned six weeks in Ottawa’s Superior Court.┬а
Fenelon┬аwas┬аsentenced by Justice Ian Carter to life in prison without parole for 25 years, which┬аhappens┬аautomatically when someone is┬аconvicted┬аof┬аmurder in the first degree in Canada.
The jury┬аaccepted┬аthe evidence that┬аit┬аwas Fenelon who, in a jealous rage, struck Gabriel┬аat least twice in the head with a 30-pound dumbbell тАФ almost instantly fatal┬аblows delivered┬аas she was already lying battered on the floor.
It came after Fenelon┬аhad struck her, dragged her and┬аchased her around her┬аbasement тАФ┬аevidence of which was found in the┬аbloody footprints her bare┬аfeet┬аleft on the concrete.
The strikes┬аwith the dumbbell┬аwere delivered with “severe force;” the kind usually seen in car wrecks or falls from a great height,┬аCrown attorney Dallas Mack said in his closing remarks.┬аThey were “clear indicators” of Fenelon’s┬аintense hatred for Gabriel.
“This was personal,” Mack said.
Disposed-of evidence recovered by police
Afterward, Fenelon dumped his clothes and boots,┬аstained with Gabriel’s blood,┬аat Petrie Island along the Ottawa River. Homicide investigators followed GPS breadcrumbs from┬аFenelon’s phone to the area and searched it for days before finding them.
It was Fenelon who called 911 to report finding Gabriel’s body two days after his┬аattack, under the guise that he had discovered her body for the first time while trying to drop off their children.
With its guilty verdict, the jury rejected Toronto-based defence lawyer Ari Goldkind’s┬аassertion in his closing remarks that the Crown hadn’t proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Goldkind had argued Fenelon had nothing to hide about the “toxic, terrible,” nature of his┬аrelationship with Gabriel, and┬аthat he repeatedly told investigators┬аhe had nothing to do with the crime┬аand┬аwouldn’t kill the mother of his children.
He also said┬аit was improbable that an “Incredible Hulk” like Fenelon could escape a fight without a scratch.
Parents describe intense guilt
After the guilty verdict, as Gabriel’s family and friends read their victim impact statements, many in the courtroom cried, including most of the jurors and┬аhomicide detectives Guy Seguin and Jennifer McLinton┬а(who now works for another unit).
Gabriel’s mother,┬аFatou Gabriel, wrote that her guilt for not doing more to protect her daughter “kills me every day … pains me to my bones … keeps me up every┬аnight.”
She asked her daughter to come home “over and over, but because she was scared of Berno, she refused.”
Her father, Andy┬аStone, called Fenelon a “woman-beating coward” who “ripped [Gabriel’s] character to shreds” even after murdering her. But he also described feelings of guilt.
“How can I even begin to express my regrets for not being the father she deserved? For not acting differently? He hurt my little girl, and I did nothing.┬аI let her down,” he told court.
‘Senseless brutality’
Gabriel’s older brother, David Gabriel, told Fenelon that day after day, he looked at him┬аin the prisoner’s dock and hoped to see “an ounce of remorse.”
“But these past few weeks only confirmed to me that you are a sadistic┬аsociopath, who laughed at my father when he testified. You enjoyed seeing his pain.”
Her younger brother, Ibn┬аStone, told Fenelon he “tortured” the family.
“You have earned your place behind bars, stripped of freedom, and there is no better fate for someone who acted with such senseless brutality.”
‘It was the right thing’
Outside the courthouse, just before midnight, the family was relieved.
“It was the right thing,” Andy┬аStone said.┬а“Twelve decent people, decent, decent people┬атАФ┬аthey weren’t fooled. They didn’t believe his lies. They didn’t believe it was someone else.”
And he had┬аa message for girls and women.
“If you’re with a guy and he’s aggressive┬аverbally, physically, run. Don’t say you’ll forgive him and he won’t do it again, because he will do it again. Run.
“And parents, listen to your kids. … Because you don’t want to be like me. I’m standing here talking to you now, my daughter’s dead. Full out. Dead.”
Support is available for those affected by intimate partner violence. You can find support services and local resources in Canada by┬аvisiting this website. If your situation is urgent, call 911.
