Judge tells Watson he’ll die in prison

Andrew Watson is the “personification of evil.”

That’s how Justice Hugh O’Connell described the murderer after he refused to reveal where he’d buried the body of 74-year-old Lise Fredette.

Watson, who turned 79 Thursday, was convicted of the first-degree murder of Fredette just moments earlier.

“Mr. Watson, the road is now over for you. If you have a heart, sir, I would strongly suggest you speak ... to put closure to this, so this family can lay this very kind, compassionate woman to her proper rest,” O’Connell said. “No thanks,” Watson said. O’Connell told Ms. Fredette’s family and friends sitting in the courtroom that he “highly resented” Watson’s betrayal, not only to Ms. Fredette, but to them as well for not giving them peace.

“Regrettably, it seems to me Mr. Watson is a completely, utterly empty vessel, concerned with only one thing: himself,” O’Connell said.

Watson will be sentenced Monday. A conviction of firstdegree murder comes with a mandatory life sentence of 25 years.

The judge thanked Ms. Fredette’s family for their attention to the case and their restraint during difficult times throughout the trial. Ms. Fredette’s blood was found on a shovel sitting in a bucket of bleach in Watson’s basement. Her blood was also found on the outside and in the trunk of Watson’s Subaru SUV.

When Watson testified in court, he said his ex-girlfriend’s blood must have gotten there after they were gardening one day.

“It’s got to be difficult to hear about how a shovel is found with your mother’s blood on it, how blood is all over a car and you had to hear this preposterous, preposterous commentary that this came from gardening at some undefined time – preposterous,” O’Connell said.

During the judge’s submission to the court, the hearing-impaired Watson removed the amplifying headphones he’s worn throughout the trial, allowing him to hear the proceedings.

“He doesn’t care,” the judge said of Watson, mentioning the headset.

O’Connell said Watson’s actions speak to an evil person, completely devoid of a conscience. “There are people regrettably like Mr. Watson who are the personification of evil.”

He told the court that he hopes Watson will find “one iota” of consciousness in his heart and eventually tell Ms. Fredette’s family where she is.

Ms. Fredette was last seen on Nov. 12, 2014 after leaving her shift at Walmart on Chemong Road. She was the store’s jewellery department manager.

The Quebec native left behind two children and two grandchildren.

O’Connell ended his submission by offering his sympathy to Ms. Fredette’s family.

“God bless you all and hopefully this provides you with the closure of at least knowing that the person responsible for the first-degree murder of your mother will now be locked away until he draws his last breath.”