Pair plead guilty in connection with deaths of a St. Catharines couple
Deidra Ann Smith and Ghislain (Justin) Robichaud were killed in their apartment in January 2018
Family and friends of Deidra Ann Smith sat in a St. Catharines courtroom Monday, each wearing a shirt featuring an image of the smiling 38-year-old mother of three.
They sat in silence as a Crown attorney explained how their loved one and her partner were bludgeoned to death in their basement apartment and their bodies driven more than 300 kilometres to cottage country and set on fire.
Jesse Wallace, 39, pleaded guilty in Superior Court of Justice Monday to two counts of manslaughter in connection with the deaths of Smith and her boyfriend Ghislain (Justin) Robichaud. He is scheduled to return to court in August for sentencing.
His common-law partner, 39year-old Alexis Yorke, pleaded guilty to two counts of accessory after the fact to manslaughter. She will be sentenced later this month.
About 30 people held a rally outside the courthouse before the guilty pleas were entered, demanding justice for Smith.
They wore the T-shirts that also had the words “Justice for Deidra” and “Our Sister’s Keeper.” Some held signs. One sign read: “The dead cannot cry out for justice. It is the duty of the living to do so for them.”
The group also denounced the sentence recently imposed against a third person charged in connection with the murders.
Lindsay Ainsworth, Wallace’s stepsister and cousin, pleaded guilty earlier this month to two counts of manslaughter and was sentenced to six and a half years behind bars. Based on the amount of time she had spent in pretrial custody, the sentence was reduced to just more than two years.
Court heard Smith and Robichaud, 37, had celebrated New Year’s Eve with the three
defendants at a Pelham Road residence.
Smith and Robichaud rented the basement apartment, while Wallace and Yorke lived in the upper unit.
Court heard Robichaud had a substantial amount of cash in his possession at the time. He is also believed to have had a significant amount of drugs.
Assistant Crown attorney Mark Eshuis told court all the parties were involved in the drug subculture and all struggled with drug addiction. In the months leading up to her disappearance and death, he added, Smith appeared to be improving her lifestyle.
Court was told Wallace and Ainsworth went to the basement apartment during the early morning hours of Jan. 2, 2018, to get money and/or drugs and both victims were assaulted.
The Crown contends Wallace either committed the assaults or aided or abetted Ainsworth to commit the assaults.
“Although the exact dynamics of the assaults are uncertain, both Robichaud and Smith were struck in the head with significant force with objects,” Eshuis said.
Both victims died of blunt force trauma to their brains.
The bodies were wrapped in plastic and placed in the back of a rental car. Furniture was removed and destroyed and the apartment was cleaned.
The three defendants drove first to Toronto where a number of personal items belonging to the victims were sold at a pawnshop.
They then continued on to Haliburton Highlands, about 23 kilometres south of Haliburton.
Court was told the bodies of Smith and Robichaud were dumped at the end of a dead-end street and set on fire. The partially- burned bodies were then covered with branches and abandoned.
A woman walking her dog discovered the remains on Jan. 21.
Court was told Robichaud’s father attended the Pelham Road address many times during the month in unsuccessful attempts to locate his son.
Smith’s family members also attended the apartment and made numerous attempts to reach her by phone.
They filed a missing person’s report with Niagara Regional Police on Jan. 24, unaware her remains had been discovered a few days earlier.
When police went to the building in response to the missing person’s report, Yorke claimed the couple had moved out of the basement apartment suddenly on New Year’s Day. She said the duo had left without notice and owed her rent.