Charges withdrawn against Niagara man
Shane Bellefeuille had been living under a cloud of suspicion for more than two years.
In a Superior Court of Justice in St. Catharines on Friday, the jubilant 51-year-old walked out of a courtroom a free man after a judge withdrew a charge of manslaughter against him.
“I’m free… I’m free,” he said as he left the courthouse.
Bellefeuille was arrested and charged in May 2016 after Niagara Regional Police reviewed the results of an autopsy report on Jonathon Lougheed, who was found dead inside his St. Catharines home in 2015.
In that initial report, an unnamed pathologist said the 29year-old died as a result of foul play.
In the late evening on Dec. 1, 2015, according to police, an altercation took place between Lougheed and Bellefeuille outside a bar in west St. Catharines.
Lougheed was transported to hospital by ambulance but he left the hospital prior to being treated.
He was found dead inside his Rykert Street home two days later.
Niagara Falls defence lawyer Geoffrey Hadfield disputed that claim and contacted a forensic pathologist and a neuropathologist. Both medical experts disagreed with the original report and suggested Lougheed died as a result of a methadone overdose.
“There was zero evidence that he was in a (methadone) program,” Hadfield said. “He must have picked up some methadone illicitly and the dose he had was likely fatal.”
Defence reports prepared by the two pathologists were turned over the Crown’s office Monday and the information was forwarded to Dr. John Hernandes, medical director of forensic pathology unit in Hamilton.
Hernandes, who is also a pathology professor at McMaster University, supported the pathologists’ conclusions.
On Friday, Crown attorney Tyler Shuster asked Judge Meredith Donohue to withdraw the criminal charge against Bellefeuille, saying there was no reasonable prospect of conviction.
“The original pathologist provided an opinion contradicted by expert opinions,” Shuster explained.
“Dr. Fernandes provided an opinion that supports the defence experts opinions regarding the cause of death. That cause of death is one which raises a reasonable doubt about Mr. Bellefeuille’s actions.”
Bellefeuille, a resident of St. Catharines, was to stand trial next week.
“It has been very difficult on him,” Hadfield said of his client.
Hadfield said the successful conclusion to the court matter was due to work of his employee Bob Elliott who sought the opinions of other medical experts. He said the outcome was “solely the result of his diligence and hard work.”