Guilty plea in homicide during home break-in
The death of Robert St. Denis at his Thames Centre estate three years ago has always been shrouded in some mystery. Some of the questions were answered Thursday afternoon when convicted jewelry store robber and one-time prison escapee Stephen Gautreau, 51, pleaded guilty to manslaughter during a brief hearing in a London courtroom.
Gautreau was charged with second-degree murder after he was arrested at a house in Chatham on July 16, 2015, two weeks after the body of St. Denis was found inside his Westminster Drive home, southeast of London, on June 25, 2015. Gautreau’s trial, which by all accounts was going to be lengthy, was supposed to start next week. Instead, he’s scheduled to be next back in court in November for sentencing. Thursday, Court heard Gautreau broke into the large home near London for money or drugs when he was “unexpectedly” confronted by St. Denis. Gautreau beat him to death, court heard, and St. Denis died of head trauma. Gautreau has a lengthy criminal history.
In 1999, he was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years for the armed robbery of a Guelph jewelry store where one robber held people at gunpoint while another smashed showcases with a bat.
He was the only one arrested and his two accomplices escaped. The loot was never recovered. While he was being transported to prison, he escaped custody after getting out of his leg irons and handcuffs and jumping out of a prison van in Hamilton. He was arrested in London a month later.
In 2006, he was charged in the robbery of a Kitchener Scotiabank where staff and customers were threatened with a sawed-off shotgun and an elderly woman had her purse snatched. Gautreau claimed that the robbery scheme was dreamt up with others over drinks, but he was sleeping when the bank was robbed. The case didn’t make it to court until 2012 when he pleaded guilty to committing robbery with an imitation firearm. He was sentenced to time served. Not much is known about St. Denis. The father of two adult daughters lived on the sprawling estate, with a three-car garage and an adjacent cottage for a gardener, for 12 years.
He was also swimming in debt and owed more than $100,000. Two liens were on the property for nonpayment of taxes and he had almost $10,000 in court fines. At the time of his death, he was facing some driving charges for stunt driving, driving without a permit and failing to remain at the scene of a crash. He already had six driving-related convictions and other charges. The estate had been a modest home, but St. Denis had renovated it and added a second storey. Throughout the investigation, the OPP were quiet about the details. St. Denis’ cause of death wasn’t released in the early days of the probe.