Crown attacks Bellefeuille's credibility on his 3rd day of testimony

WARNING: This story contains disturbing written descriptions of violence and coarse language.

On the second day of cross-examination and the third day testifying in his own defence on Tuesday, the Crown leaned in to attack the credibility of Alain Bellefeuille, who's accused of murdering an Ontario Provincial Police officer and attempting to murder two others during a wellness check two years ago.

In court, a clip of video from Sgt. Eric Mueller's body-worn camera was played back in which Bellefeuille is heard saying in French, "Sorry buddy, it's not your house. You didn't have the right." This was after he had mortally wounded Mueller, critically wounded Const. Marc Lauzon, and fired more shots in the direction of Const. François Gamache-Asselin outside, and before he called 911.

At first, Bellefeuille told court he didn't remember saying those words, and that he'd never say something like that. After the video was played back, he testified he was talking out loud to himself.

"Is it possible you're only talking to yourself when you say something incriminating?" assistant Crown attorney François Dulude asked.

"I talk to myself all the time. Everyone talks to themselves," Bellefeuille testified.

'When will you tell us the truth?'

On Monday, another clip was played in which Bellefeuille can be heard screaming, "Break and enter, motherf--ker!" seconds after firing at Mueller and Lauzon.

Bellefeuille told court he didn't remember saying anything like that around that time, but that it was possible. After the tape was played back, he again testified that he was talking to himself and was overwhelmed in that moment.

"When will you tell us the truth and take responsibility for all the things you said to him?" Dulude asked Tuesday.

"I just said it's directed at him but I was talking to myself. That's all I can tell you," Bellefeuille told court.

Bellefeuille is testifying in French under questioning by Dulude, also in French. He pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder at the outset of his bilingual trial in Superior Court in L'Orignal, Ont., east of Ottawa, in March.

It's an admitted fact that Bellefeuille did the shooting after police were called to his home in Bourget, Ont., for a wellness check called in by concerned neighbours. In question is what he was thinking and when he repeatedly fired his rifle, and what his intentions were.

'There's no story to fabricate'

Also on Tuesday, Dulude asked Bellefeuille about his 911 call, made at 2:37 a.m. after he'd fired a total of 17 shots in three separate bursts. On the recording, he tells the dispatcher in English: "Hi, I fired a shot.... Someone broke into my house but unfortunately I shot a police officer."

"Even then, you know that Sgt. Mueller is seriously injured, and you're trying to justify your actions?" Dulude asked. "You're starting to fabricate your story. To put on a show.... You're not helping Sgt. Mueller, you want to help yourself."

"The only reason I wanted to say that was so they would understand why I fired a shot," Bellefeuille testified. "[It] was to demonstrate that they could come to help him because I didn't intend to be a threat at this point.... There's no story to fabricate.... It wasn't a charade."

Dulude suggested that Bellefeuille ended up putting the magazine he'd used — which was illegally modified to hold 22 rounds instead of the usual five — into a cooler in his hunting room in an effort to hide it.

Bellefeuille repeatedly testified he put it there with the rest of his magazines out of habit, because that's where he typically stored them.

'I was just about to go to sleep'

Later Tuesday, the Crown asked Bellefeuille about where he'd put his rifle before paramedics arrived. Earlier in the trial, one of the paramedics testified that they found the rifle placed on top of Mueller's chest, and that a colleague had moved it off to the side.

Bellefeuille agreed that the weapon weighed 20 to 30 pounds and that Mueller was having trouble breathing. He told the court that he couldn't remember if he had leaned it against the sergeant or put it on top of him, but Bellefeuille said his goal was for police to see it and learn that he was no longer armed.

For the first time at the trial, video was played of a police interrogation that took place on May 11, 2023, just hours after the shooting. Bellefeuille testified he was being honest during the nearly four-hour interview, but that he hadn't slept for 36 hours and that he occasionally gave imprecise answers.

One of the contested issues at this trial has been when, or whether, Bellefeuille had been asleep before police arrived. During his cross-examination on Monday, Bellefeuille was steadfast that he had fallen asleep sometime after 2 a.m. On Tuesday, the Crown played a section of video from the interrogation, to dig into the issue.

"You knew they were police officers," the detective asks Bellefeuille.

"If you say so, but I was in the bedroom," he replies.

"What were you doing in the bedroom?"

"I was just about to go to sleep."

Asked about the inconsistency — whether he had been asleep or was about to go to sleep before police arrived — Bellefeuille testified: "If we go to the next line, he asks me what happened next. I say, that's what happened next [I fell asleep]. I had trouble understanding the timing of when he was speaking to me."

Bellefeuille told court he'd been questioned for hours, he was exhausted and hadn't slept, and that the detective kept questioning him. "At that point, I answered. He wasn't taking no for an answer, so I started talking to him," Bellefeuille testified.

"Did you tell the truth?" Dulude asked.

"Yes, when I answered him."

"The truth is, you were about to go to sleep," Dulude continued.

"Yes."

"You were angry that night."

"Yes, I'm just like everybody else. We all get angry."

'I wasn't too pleased that evening'

Court also heard more Tuesday about what had been going on at Bellefeuille's house before police arrived. In the interview video he tells the detective he wants to understand why police had come to his home. The detective replies that neighbours called police after hearing gunshots, screaming and other noise.

Bellefeuille tells the officer he had been banging on doors, and that "I wasn't too pleased that evening."

On Tuesday, he testified he was angry and frustrated before going to bed because he was being forced to move out of the house he was renting by his landlord. He said he was banging or slamming doors, playing loud music and singing, and possibly screaming.

He denied touching his gun or firing it.

A search for his dog, or something else?

The Crown ended Tuesday by honing in on what Bellefeuille did with Mueller's body-worn camera after he had removed it from Mueller's vest.

Video from the camera was played in court. It shows it in his pocket while he's interacting with paramedics. Then it's grabbed and removed, and can be seen flying through the air before landing on the ground.

Bellefeuille testified he realized he'd had the camera in his pocket while he was inside looking for his dog, and that he had told the paramedics he was looking for his dog because he was worried about him, and hadn't seen him since the shooting.

He appeared to wipe away tears after Dulude pointed out that the dog could have been hit by gunfire. Bellefeuille testified that if he'd known his dog could have been struck, he never would have fired his rifle.

The Crown suggested that going to search for the dog was a ruse to buy time to throw Mueller's camera into the neighbour's yard. Dulude told court that in the video, Bellefeuille says to one of the paramedics, "No police around" before going to look for his dog and throwing the camera. Dulude said he would play that excerpt Wednesday.

Bellefeuille denied saying it.

"You maintain that all this fuss was to bring your dog back," Dulude said, before adding: "Not once do we hear you call his name."

Bellefeuille replied that he wasn't in his right mind at the time, and that he'd been thinking about a thousand things.

His cross examination continues for a third day Wednesday morning.