3 week_ago
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Calgary·New
As Vanessa Ladouceur walked on 10th Avenue, headed to her aboriginal greeting displacement astatine a downtown Calgary fittingness studio, she passed a antheral with a backpack and a bicycle who would, hours later, beryllium charged with her murder.
Micheal Adenyi, 29, is connected proceedings for execution successful the 2022 decease of Vanessa Ladouceur
Meghan Grant · CBC News
· Posted: Mar 31, 2025 7:32 PM EDT | Last Updated: 43 minutes ago
As Vanessa Ladouceur walked on 10th Avenue, headed to her aboriginal greeting displacement astatine a downtown Calgary fittingness studio, she passed a antheral with a backpack and a bicycle who would, hours later, beryllium charged with her murder.
Michael Adenyi, 29, faces a complaint of first-degree execution successful the decease of Ladouceur, 31.
As Adenyi's proceedings got underway Monday, jurors heard an opening connection from authoritative Carla MacPhail, who outlined the grounds expected to beryllium called by the Crown.
On March 18, 2022, Ladouceur near her downtown location to locomotion to enactment conscionable a fewer blocks away.
She walked past a antheral who the Crown says was Adenyi.
The antheral she passed began pursuing her — first connected his bicycle, past connected foot, running.
He was "closing the spread betwixt them," said MacPhail. "He continued his pursuit."
The antheral "bodychecked her disconnected her feet into an alcove, wherever helium attacked her."
The onslaught lasted 11 seconds and Ladouceur suffered 8 stab wounds, according to MacPhail.
A neighbour who heard Ladouceur's screams ran to his flat window, saw the battle and yelled astatine the attacker to stop.
Both extremity up astatine aforesaid hospital
Security footage shows the antheral with the weapon past ran from the scene.
Ladouceur was capable to get up and stumbled into a adjacent lobby. By then, the neighbour made it to the lobby and unneurotic with different Good Samaritan tried to help.
But Ladouceur was "very injured." She'd collapsed successful the lobby and was unresponsive by the clip archetypal responders arrived.
A constabulary serviceman accompanied the unfortunate and paramedics to Foothills Hospital.
At the aforesaid time, Adenyi had turned up astatine the hospital, looking for assistance for cuts to his fingers and hands.
He'd told infirmary unit helium injured his hands skateboarding aft falling connected glass. Suspicious, they alerted police.
The aforesaid serviceman who accompanied Ladouceur from the transgression country to the infirmary arrested Adenyi "right determination astatine the infirmary for murder," said MacPhail.
Jurors heard that a bloody weapon recovered successful the Calgary Tower parkade aboriginal came backmost with DNA connected it from some Ladouceur and Adenyi.
Psychotic break
In her opening statement, MacPhail told jurors it's expected Adenyi's lawyers Kim Ross and Curtis Mennie volition equine a not criminally liable (NCR) defence. That means they mean to reason Adenyi was suffering from a psychotic interruption and was incapable to recognize that his actions were morally wrong.
The Crown volition reason Adenyi is criminally liable for the fatal onslaught on Ladouceur.
"He pursued her until the infinitesimal was close to onslaught her," said MacPhail.
"He stabbed her aggregate times, intentionally sidesplitting her."
The proceedings is acceptable to past 4 weeks.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Meghan Grant is simply a justness affairs reporter. She has been covering courts, transgression and stories of constabulary accountability successful confederate Alberta for much than a decade. Send Meghan a communicative extremity astatine meghan.grant@cbc.ca.
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