Accused in store killing was delusional, court told

Accused in Maxi store death says he’s still convinced victim was plotting to kill him

Randy Tshilumba was delusional when he stabbed Clémence Beaulieu-Patry to death, the accused’s lawyer told the jury in the murder trial at the Montreal courthouse.

The lawyer, Philippe Larochelle, stated outright in an opening statement that his client killed the 20-year-old woman while she was working at the Maxi supermarket, on Papineau Ave. and Crémazie Blvd., on April 10, 2016. The evidence presented by the Crown makes it clear, Larochelle conceded.

The defence of his “brutal” act, Larochelle said, is in what brought Tshilumba to kill Beaulieu-Patry.

“Now we are going to go into the head of Randy,” the attorney said minutes before calling the accused to the witness stand.

Tshilumba, 21, then proceeded to testify for hours on Thursday that he was convinced, months before he stabbed the victim, that “Clémence and her friends wanted to kill me.” He repeated this phrase several times throughout his testimony and said it in a matter-of-fact way, indicating he still believes it to this day even though he is currently being evaluated at the Philippe Pinel Institute as his trial progresses.

“Yes. I admit it,” Tshilumba said when asked point-blank by Larochelle if he killed Beaulieu-Patry.

He then went on to claim that for several months he was (and still is) convinced Beaulieu-Patry and four of her friends — women he barely knew when they were in high school together — were plotting to do him harm. He said the threats to his safety came in the form of anonymous messages posted on a Facebook page called Spotted and that he was somehow able to draw a link between those anonymous messages and the Facebook pages of Beaulieu-Patry and her friends.

Even his own best friend didn’t believe him, Tshilumba said while well into his testimony.

“He said I was crazy, that I was paranoid,” the accused recounted when asked of his friend’s reaction. “He didn’t understand the situation, that these women wanted to kill me.”

Tshilumba said that after becoming convinced the five women were out to get him, he suddenly spotted Beaulieu-Patry at the supermarket during the autumn months of 2015, while he worked part-time as a bank representative for PC Plus, a client card offered to Maxi customers. He said seeing her in person significantly increased the anxiety he felt in previous months.

On the night of the homicide, Tshilumba said, he went to the supermarket to “make peace” with Beaulieu-Patry and wanted to ask her to leave him alone. He testified that as he approached her he became concerned by the look on her face.

“She pointed her index finger and I thought she was going to pull out a gun. The way she looked at me and the other clients (inside the Maxi), I thought she was going to kill the other clients,” Tshilumba said. “I panicked completely. The way she looked at the other clients . ... I wanted to protect the other clients.”

When asked by Larochelle why he stabbed the victim 14 times, Tshilumba replied that he believed it was “five or six times.” But, he conceded, it was obvious from the Crown’s evidence that it was actually 14 times. He also could not explain why police found bloodstained gloves inside his backpack along with the murder weapon hidden in his locker at the CEGEP he was attending at the time.

Tshilumba also said he sought help for the anxiety and depression he felt after having seen BeaulieuPatry on three occasions in 2015. His grades were “catastrophic” because he had difficulty concentrating and had difficulty sleeping. Near the end of 2015, he saw a doctor (the second in months) and was given a prescription for Citolapram, medication to treat anxiety.

“I took one pill and I stopped,” Tshilumba said, while adding he started to believe the doctor was part of the plot to kill him. “I took one and I never took another ... or maybe one other.”

Tshilumba said the same doctor recommended that he consult a psychologist. He testified that he and his mother tried to find one, but she had difficulty establishing whether the consultations would be covered by her insurance.

“It didn’t work out,” Tshilumba said.

He said he told the doctor his anxiety was based on a fear that someone was out to kill him. But he was not willing to tell the doctor he believed five women he barely knew were out to get him.

“Did you explain your fears?” Larochelle asked.

“No, to me it was a little private what was happening to me,” Tshilumba replied.

His testimony will resume on Friday.

Larochelle said two psychiatrists will be called to testify for the defence, including one appointed by the court. He also said some of Tshilumba’s friends will also testify about his “bizarre” behaviour before the murder.

She pointed her index finger and I thought she was going to pull out a gun.