What the jury didn't hear at the Kwasi Benjamin trial
Benjamin, 32, was under court order not to be near Nellie Angutiguluk at time of her death in May 2015
Charged with assaulting Nellie Angutiguluk in 2014 and again, just days before she died, Kwasi Benjamin was under a court order not to be anywhere near his girlfriend at the time of her death, court documents show.
That court order is among the evidence that the jury did not hear during the 32-year-old man's trial for second-degree murder in Angutiguluk's death.
Now that the jury is deliberating at the Montreal courthouse, CBC News can reveal what the six men and six women of the jury didn't hear during the six weeks of proceedings.
During the trial, court heard about an incident in a Dorval parking lot after Angutiguluk and Benjamin had spent an evening in the bar. The couple got into a fight in which Benjamin said Angutiguluk had been hitting him.
In his testimony in his own defence, Benjamin told the jury he stretched out his arm to prevent her from striking him, and he hit her by mistake. A witness on the scene called the police.
That happened on May 9, 2015, nine days before Angutiguluk died.
What the jury was not allowed to hear, however, was that as a result of that incident, Benjamin was arrested and held for six days, then charged with one count of assault. The case is still pending.
He was released on May 15, with several conditions. Among them:
- To abstain from being in the physical presence of Nellie Angutiguluk.
- To abstain from communicating in any manner with Nellie Angutiguluk.
- To abstain from consuming alcohol.
However, just two days later, on May 17, 2015, the two were together. They visited Angutiguluk's mother, who was in Montreal from northern Quebec and then spent the evening drinking.
Angutiguluk died sometime after the two returned to the apartment they shared around 1:00 a.m. on May 18.
Prior assault charge
This was not the first time Benjamin had been in trouble for allegedly assaulting Angutiguluk.
On Jan. 4, 2014, he was charged with her aggravated assault.
That case wound its way through the courts until the charge was withdrawn the following December.
Court records show Angutiguluk refused to co-operate with the Crown, telling a police officer sent to track her down that she would not show up for the scheduled court date or any future date.
Ex-cellmate allegedly threatened
The jury also did not hear evidence about two incidents in which Benjamin allegedly threatened a former cellmate who served as a Crown witness.
The man, who can only be identified as XY, testified before the jury about what he discussed with Benjamin after Benjamin was arrested in July 2015 in connection with Angutiguluk's death.
- Accused killer's former cellmate admits Kwasi Benjamin never told him he killed his girlfriend
- Accused murderer said he wanted to get rid of Nellie Angutiguluk, ex-cellmate testifies
XY testified at Benjamin's preliminary inquiry on the murder charge the following summer.
In the months after that inquiry, XY said the two crossed paths twice — once in the Rivière-des-Prairies detention centre and once in the Bordeaux detention centre.
Each time, he said, Benjamin threatened him.
XY only brought these details to the attention of the Crown prosecutor and investigators once the trial was well underway, despite having met them on several occasions before the trial.
Prosecutor Dennis Galiatsatos asked to present this to the jury as evidence of Benjamin's conduct after the alleged offence.
However, Quebec Superior Court Justice Michael Stober ruled the prejudicial effects of that evidence outweighed the value of allowing the testimony, and he ruled it inadmissible.
XY was not allowed to mention those alleged incidents in front of the jury.