Williams Formally Convicted
Posted October 19, 2010 6:38 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Awful details of the crimes committed by disgraced Col. Russell Williams continued to be read out in a Belleville court Tuesday on the second day of his sentencing hearing. The former commander at CFB Trenton has now been formally convicted.
The Crown focused on the sexual assault of a Tweed, Ont. woman and the sexual assault and murder of 37-year-old Marie-France Comeau in the first half of the hearing, outlining in graphic detail how Williams gained entry to Comeau’s home, raped and murdered her.
Williams took several photographs throughout the crime and videotaped his assaults. Those videos weren’t shown in court.
The once-rising star in the Canadian military pleaded guilty to two counts of murder, two sexual assaults and 82 break and enter thefts on Monday.
Williams, 47, entered the court at 8am through an entrance covered by tarp. The military has begun the process of stripping Williams of his rank and medals before disgracefully discharging him.
When the Crown began revealing details of the sexual assault and murder of Comeau the family of Williams’ second murder victim, Jessica Lloyd, left the court.
The court heard that he met Comeau during a military flight and learned she lived alone. He later used his authority to find her home address.
He broke into her home before her murder and stole some of her underwear. When he returned he gained entry through a basement window and hid behind the furnace. Comeau came face-to-face with her masked murderer when she went down to the basement looking for her cat.
Comeau struggled with Williams, the Crown said, and she was hit over the head several times with a flashlight and then tied to a pole in the basement. Williams then tried to conceal the break-in by fixing the basement window screen. He then went upstairs and rigged the front door lock so it couldn’t be opened.
Williams later dragged Comeau upstairs, where she was repeatedly raped. She repeatedly fought back and nearly escaped, but she only made it to the bathroom when she was once again subdued by Williams. Comeau was asphyxiated.
Earlier, the court heard the disturbing details of the sexual assault of Williams’ neighbour in Tweed, Ont. He broke into the victim’s home, bound, blindfolded and photographed her.
The second half of Tuesday’s hearing outlined Lloyd’s murder.
Williams broke into Lloyd’s house before he attacked and murdered her last January.
Lloyd awoke to find Williams standing over her. He then bound her and sexually assaulted her.
Video of the attack on Lloyd and her murder weren’t shown in court.
Williams then drove her to his cottage on Cosy Cove Lane in Tweed, Ont. and forced her to shower, while still bound. The court heard Lloyd started convulsing and asked to be taken to hospital. Williams told her: “Hang in there baby. Hang in there.”
Lloyd told Williams that if she was going to die she wanted him to tell her mother that she loved her.
Williams later struck Lloyd on the head and strangled her. He kept her body in his garage for three days while he flew to California with troops. When he returned he left her body on a rural road.
On Monday, jurors as well as gathered media and family and friends of the victims saw countless disturbing photos of Williams. He had meticulously documented all his crimes, including taking pictures of himself wearing stolen girls’ and women’s underwear and masturbating for the camera. He stole items from girls as young as 12.
The Crown says the pornographic images and other “extremely disturbing” evidence trace the escalation of Williams’s crimes, starting from break and enters in 2007 to the sexual assaults of two women last fall and, ultimately, the murder of two more.
Williams kept a “complex” filing system and a log of all his offences. Photos were time-and-date-stamped and kept on hard drives that were found stored in the ceiling in the basement of his Ottawa home.
In a chilling confession, Williams was asked by police if he hadn’t been caught, whether he would have continued on his trail of murder and sexual depravity.
He responded saying “That’s hard to answer.”
Williams faces an automatic sentence of life in prison, with no possibility of parole for at least 25 years.
