Women believed dead man would rise again, court told
Two women who kept the decomposing body of a man in a Thorold home for years believing he would be resurrected as part of a prophecy do not deserve to go to jail, court heard Friday.
“Obviously, to the public and to us it’s bizarre,” defence lawyer Jeff Root said of the circumstances surrounding the 2019 discovery of a mummified man in the bathroom of the home.
“It’s unfathomable.”
Despite what he called the “fantastically bizarre” beliefs of his client, Paulette Villamil, and her friend Tamara Bernard, Root said their genuine belief in such unconventional views should be taken into account at sentencing.
The women, both 47, pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to report the death of a person. A sentencing hearing was held in an Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines on Friday.
Defence lawyers noted the deceased man, who was the former husband of Bernard and common-law spouse to Villamil, also believed in the prophecies. The trio lived together.
In pre-sentence reports submitted to court, the women described their beliefs in witchcraft and prophecies, channelling spirit energies and resurrections.
The judge said there was “much to confirm” that both women genuinely believed in an imminent resurrection regarding the dead man.
The lawyers requested the judge impose conditional sentences, also known as house arrest, as penalties.
Defence lawyer Christopher Raimondo, who represents Bernard, said neither woman played a role in the man’s death and they don’t pose a risk to the community. Crown attorney Michal Sokolski argued a jail term in the range of six to 12 months was an appropriate penalty.
Niagara Regional Police went to a home on Manley Crescent in Thorold on Nov. 24, 2019, in regards to a welfare check on an adult male who hadn’t been seen in a number of years. The mummified body was found on the toilet.
The women told police they were planning to resurrect the man in a week’s time. The man who had been dead for four years did not die as a result of foul play. The judge will deliver his sentence in February.