Man argued with girlfriend before killing her: Crown
Three weeks after he allegedly killed his girlfriend because she wasn’t paying her share of the rent, Kwasi Alfred Benjamin showed up at a memorial for Nellie Angutiguluk accompanied by a woman he introduced as his “new girlfriend.”
The chilling detail was part of the opening statement made by prosecutor Dennis Galiatsatos at the start of Benjamin’s second-degree murder trial at the Montreal courthouse Monday. A jury composed of six men and six women is expected to hear evidence in the case during the next four weeks.
Angutiguluk, 29, an Inuk woman originally from Nunavik, was killed in an apartment in Côte-des-Neiges during the Victoria Day weekend in May 2015. Galiatsatos told the jury it will hear evidence the couple argued throughout the long weekend over money.
Witnesses will say they heard Benjamin, 32, accuse Angutiguluk of having stolen money from him. Sometime before the murder, a witness saw Benjamin push the accused to the ground in a parking lot. The witness will say Benjamin said she wasn’t paying rent while living with him, Galiatsatos said.
The prosecutor also told jurors they will be shown video evidence, captured by a security camera, recorded inside a bar near Benjamin’s second-floor apartment on de Nancy St., where the couple appeared to argue at length shortly before she died. There is no audio, Galiatsatos said, but it will be clear the accused and the victim were arguing.
The couple left the bar on foot and, minutes later, the Montreal police received a 911 call reporting a woman was walking in the middle of a street. The officers who responded to the call found Benjamin and Angutiguluk together about to enter the apartment building on de Nancy St. Both appeared to be very inebriated, Galiatsatos said.
At 3:30 a.m. on the Monday of the long weekend, a neighbour heard what sounded like a loud argument. The witness will testify he felt the floor vibrate after hearing Benjamin shout: “Where’s my money?”
Benjamin went to work later that day, but based on Galiatsatos’s summary, the police could find no evidence Angutiguluk left the apartment following the argument.
At 12:50 a.m. the following day, Benjamin called 911 from a pay phone on Jean Talon St. and reported Angutiguluk was unconscious but was still breathing. When ambulance technicians arrived, they found Angutiguluk’s body naked, except for a pair of underwear, and could find no signs of life. She was declared dead after she was brought to a hospital. Witnesses will say her body was rigid and she probably died hours before Benjamin called 911.
Galiatsatos said a pathologist will testify the victim died of “ligature strangulation.” Galiatsatos noted several different wires were seized from Benjamin’s apartment.
The victim’s mother and the accused’s stepmother are expected to testify about what they knew of the couple’s relationship and things Benjamin said after Angutiguluk was killed.
An employee at a community centre is also expected to testify that, three weeks after the murder, a memorial was held in Angutiguluk’s memory and Benjamin attended it “with a woman he introduced as his new girlfriend.”