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A man who was a youth when he took part in the murder of Jimmy Méthot less than three years ago appeared to be a hostile witness as he testified at Véronique Manceaux’s jury trial Wednesday.
The witness, who is 20 now and was 17 when he helped put an end to Méthot’s life over Labour Day weekend in 2021, claimed to have forgotten a lot during questioning from Crown prosecutor Jasmine Guillaume at the Montreal courthouse.
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Manceaux, 38, is charged with first-degree murder and with causing an indignity to Méthot’s body.
At the start of the trial last week, Guillaume told the jury that the man punched Méthot and prevented him from leaving Manceaux’s home on Rathwell St., where she is alleged to have also assaulted and stabbed the victim.
The prosecutor said Méthot was forced to drink a flammable liquid before dying in agonizing pain on the floor of Manceaux’s living room.
The witness claimed on Wednesday that he could not remember any of this, despite his having pleaded guilty last year in youth court to murdering Méthot. The witness was sentenced as a youth to nine years in prison. His identity is protected by the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
“I just remember going to a house and a few days later I was arrested for murder,” the witness said when asked to describe what happened inside Manceaux’s house.
He also said he is incarcerated “in the adult system.”
“I got found guilty,” the witness said when Guillaume asked him why he is incarcerated.
When Guillaume pressed further, the witness corrected himself and said “I pleaded guilty.”
“To what,” Guillaume asked.
“To murder.”
“Of whom?”
“I don’t remember his name,” the witness replied. “I went back to juvie (before later being transferred to a federal penitentiary) because that’s where the judge told me to go.”
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