Accused murderer said he wanted to get rid of Nellie Angutiguluk, ex-cellmate testifies

Kwasi Benjamin, charged with the second-degree murder of Nellie Angutiguluk in May 2015, told his ex-cellmate he was in love with someone else and was tired of paying for his girlfriend's booze and drugs, a jury heard Monday.

The ex-cellmate, who can only be identified by the initials XY, took the witness box Monday afternoon at Benjamin's trial before Quebec Superior Court Justice Michael Stober and a jury at the Montreal courthouse.

The court heard that XY shared a cell with the accused killer in July 2015, shortly after Benjamin's arrest for the murder of Angutiguluk, 29, an Inuk mother of three originally from Puvirnituq, in the Nunavik region of northern Quebec.

He testified that cellmates usually chat about why they are in jail, and he said Benjamin told him he was accused of murdering an Inuk woman.

He said Benjamin told him the woman had problems with alcohol and drugs, and he wanted to get rid of her.

He also said he had another girlfriend, with whom he was in love, XY told the court.

The former inmate said the defendant told him he had been in a bad relationship with his alleged victim, and he didn't want to pay for her drugs and alcohol any longer.

XY told the jury Benjamin told him that on the night before she died, Angutiguluk passed out because of booze and possibly drugs someone put in her drink at a bar.

He said Benjamin went on to make reference to sexual games Angutiguluk liked to play with a belt, which involved hanging herself from a closet.

XY sought out police

He said Benjamin told him that before leaving for work in the morning, he picked up a passed-out Angutiguluk and put her in bed.

XY said Benjamin told him he didn't believe an autopsy would reveal whether she was strangled or choked.

The court heard earlier Crown evidence from a police investigator who attended Angutiguluk's autopsy that pathologist Dr. Caroline Tanguay found a furrow on Angutiguluk's neck and sent investigators back to the apartment to look for a wire or a cord that corresponded to the furrow mark.

XY told the Crown that after his release later in 2015, plagued by his conscience, he went to the police of his own accord. 

On Tuesday, defence lawyer Paul Skolnik will cross-examine the witness.

Stepmother describes rocky relationship

Earlier Monday, Benjamin's stepmother was in the witness box and described a caring but rocky relationship between her stepson and Angutiguluk.

Carmen James, who is married to Benjamin's biological father, told the court that Benjamin came to Canada from Trinidad to live with them when he was a teen.

James says she only met Angutiguluk two or three times, at church, except for one instance when she spotted her on a bus.

She testified that Benjamin called to tell her of Angutiguluk's death on the day it happened. She said he told her that when he came home from work, he found Angutiguluk in the same position he'd left her in and that he'd tried to wake her but she didn't respond.

James said he didn't believe that Angutiguluk had died.

Under cross-examination from Skolnik, James described her stepson as docile.

"When he has a girlfriend, they would take anything from him. They would beat him up, and he don't hit back," James said.

James painted a picture of a caring relationship between her stepson and Angutiguluk, in which he defended her. She said they were always together, and he would pay her bus fare.

"Kwasi always loved her," said James. "He'd go out and he'd work, and he'd cook right food for her. I'd say they had a loving relationship."

Skolnik asked about the time James saw Angutiguluk on the bus. She described the woman as drunk and swearing at other passengers. James said she kept her head down because she didn't want Angutiguluk to spot her.

"She was there, cussing, and all the swear words coming from her mouth until someone on the bus said to the driver, 'Get her off.'"

After the incident on the bus, James told Benjamin she didn't want Angutiguluk to come to her home anymore.

"I live a certain standard in my home, and Kwasi knows that, too.  There is no drinking, no smoking at my home," she said.

"I said, 'If ever you bring her to my house, even to the door, you will be banned from coming here, too.'"

She said her stepson's lifestyle changed radically after he met Angutiguluk, to the point where he drank and smoked cigarettes with her.