The Crown finished presenting evidence Wednesday at the trial of Hosea Amorus Puhya, the Montrealer accused of stalking and murdering his ex-wife in front of their children. It is therefore from next Wednesday that the jury will have to decide the fate of the accused.
After presenting his last witness, Crown prosecutor Mr. Philippe Vallières-Roland announced that the prosecution’s case was closed. His defense colleague Mr. Antonio Cabral in turn said that he would not present evidence. This means that Hosea Amorus Puhya will not take the stand to explain his version of the facts, as is his right.
He is accused of killing Gisèle Itale Betondi on September 8, 2022, while she was strapping her children into her car parked in front of her home in the LaSalle district of Montreal.
The lawyers will argue next Tuesday, then Judge Catherine Perreault is expected to sequester the jury the next day following her instructions. The jurors will have to return a unanimous verdict. To find the accused guilty of first degree murder, they must have been convinced beyond a reasonable doubt by the Crown’s evidence.
According to the evidence, Hosea Amorus Puhya had threatened to kill his ex-wife around twenty times, a few days before the fateful day. A chilling appeal was presented to the jury on Tuesday. The accused compares his ex-wife to a “witch” and a “demon.”
“Gisele! I will determine how long you will live. You’re already dead. Know that you are dead. You will die ! The children will live with me. You will die ! You’re a dead woman! You’re going to die,” the man on the other end spat.
At the start of the trial, the jury heard moving testimony from a friend of the victim who witnessed the murder. Before dying, Gisèle Itale Betondi told him that her masked assailant was her husband. An extremely violent video showing the murder was shown to the jury during the trial.
Using surveillance cameras, the jury was able to follow the assailant’s journey in the metro and on the bus, up to the victim’s residence in LaSalle. In some images, the man looks like the accused. According to the Crown, this man is undoubtedly Hosea Amorus Puhya.
Me Jade Coderre teams up with Me Vallières-Roland for the Crown.
