By Keith Lacey
Friday, Feb. 1, 2002
Only minutes after a jury found Andre Gervais guilty of second-degree murder in the strangulation death of Denis Villeneuve, Justice Archie Campbell told jurors Gervais' co-accused Carmen Bailey has started serving a life sentence for the murder.
Bailey, called a "master manipulator" and "self-centred leech" during the trial, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder only two days into the Villeneuve murder trial.
Bailey, 22, pleaded guilty after his former girlfriend Kimberly Laberge spent her first of three days on the witness stand.
Bailey was sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole until October 2009, or 10 years after Villeneuve was murdered. He was also prohibited from owning or possessing any restricted firearm or weapon for life.
His guilty plea was not made public because Campbell ordered a publication ban on anything that happened in the courtroom Friday, Jan. 11 when Bailey admitted to the killing.
Campbell told the eight-man, four-woman jury on several occasions not to speculate on what might have happened with Bailey and weigh evidence solely as it pertained to Gervais. However, once the jury found Gervais guilty Wednesday afternoon, Campbell informed jurors of Bailey?s plea of guilt.
He also informed the jury Bailey will not be eligible for parole for 10 years.
Both men were charged with second-degree murder for the Oct. 18, 1999 strangulation death of
Villeneuve, who was killed, bound, and placed in the trunk of Gervais' car.
At Bailey's sentencing hearing, Justice Ian Gordon told the accused his crimes were reprehensible and taking the life of another human being calls out for the harshest penalties available under Canadian law.
"A young man was robbed of his future and his family was robbed of time with him...and society was robbed of a productive member," said Gordon.
"This crime was disrespectful in the extreme...there seems to be no logical reason" why Villeneuve's life was taken away so brutally, he added.
A murder conviction calls for an automatic life sentence and Gordon urged Bailey to try and change his life around and rehabilitate himself while incarcerated.
Defence counsel Alex Toffoli conceded a heinous crime of this nature calls for a life sentence and the court must consider how Villeneuve was killed, his young age and pain and suffering he endured.
The only question left for the courts to decide is how long his client should be forced to remain behind bars before being considered for parole, said Toffoli.
Considering Bailey's age, the fact he had never been in jail prior to being arrested in this case, his 27 months in pretrial custody and potential for rehabilitation, Toffoli proposed Bailey be eligible to apply for parole 10 years after his arrest.
Bailey has no educational or work background and must take advantage of programs offered inside the penitentiary to have any future when he?s released many years from now, said Toffoli.
"Hopefully, when he leaves prison he can become a contributing member of society rather than being the burden and detriment to society he was until Oct. 23 of 1999."
Assistant Crown attorney James Stewart said "to say the least, this was a tragic, needless loss of life....senseless seems to be the only word" to describe what happened to Villeneuve.
When Gordon asked Bailey if he had anything to say before imposing the life sentence, Bailey stood and said in a calm voice "no sir."
