No chance of parole for 25 years
Randy Tshilumba has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Montreal grocery store employee Clémence Beaulieu-Patry in April 2016.
On Wednesday, Quebec Superior Court Justice Hélène Di Salvo handed Tshilumba an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years. He was convicted by a jury last Friday.
“Her name was Clémence, she was 20 years old, and she had her entire life ahead of her,” Di Salvo said before reading out the sentence.
Her parents, Nathalie Beaulieu and Luc Patry, attended every day of the trial, and Di Salvo hailed their “courage and dignity.”
They said that while the process was traumatizing, the verdict brought them some peace.
“If in 25 years we’re still alive, we’ll be there to oppose his bail,” they promised.
The sentencing decision came at the end of a very emotional day in which family and friends spoke about losing Beaulieu-Patry.
“You were ripped from us,” her parents said in court earlier in the day, adding they have trouble sleeping and haven’t worked since the murder. “We so want to see your smile … touch your hair,” Beaulieu said through tears. “The house is empty without you.”
They asked that a photo of her be projected on a screen in the court and they frequently broke down in tears as they delivered their emotional victim impact statement.
Jurors rejected the defence’s argument the accused was not criminally responsible for his actions when he stabbed Beaulieu-Patry repeatedly on April 10, 2016.
Tshilumba killed Beaulieu-Patry at her place of work, a Maxi supermarket, in front of stunned witnesses who were shopping.
Tshilumba had pleaded not guilty and testified he acted in self-defence because he believed Beaulieu-Patry wanted to kill him and other people in the store.
Tshilumba and Beaulieu-Patry had attended the same high school, but they barely knew each other.