Jury retires to ponder a verdict in Kwasi Benjamin murder trial

Kwasi Alfred Benjamin, 32, is on trial in Montreal for the 2015 homicide of Nellie Angutiguluk, 29, of Puvirnituq. Today, the judge presiding over the case will finish his instructions to the six-woman, six-man jury. (SVPM PHOTO)

(UPDATED, 4:00 p.m., Feb. 26)

Special to Nunatsiaq News

MONTREAL—A six-woman, six-man jury has begun deliberations on whether Benjamin Kwasi is guilty or not guilty of either second degree murder or manslaughter in the May 2015 death of his live-in girlfriend, Nellie Angutiguluk.

She was found dead in the bed she shared at Benjamin’s apartment with marks on her neck. A medical examiner reported her cause of death as ligature strangulation.

Quebec Superior Court Justice Michael Stober last Friday began his instructions to the jury in the second-degree murder trial of Benjamin Kwasi and finished today.

If the jury is unable to reach a verdict by 5 p.m. today, they will take a break and continue deliberations tomorrow morning.

In Stober’s final instruction, he reminded the jury that pathologist Dr. Caroline Tanguay testified that the marks on Angutiguluk’s neck would have been higher on her neck, against her jawline if Angutiguluk had died from a hanging suicide and that there was no evidence to show that it had been a manual strangulation.

He also added, “it’s up to you to determine to what extent you rely upon the experts’ opinions.”

He let them know as jury members they must consider the witnesses’ education, work experience and impartiality to the case.

Stober said the verdict tree includes four questions. Did an unlawful act occur? Was it committed by the accused? Did the unlawful act result in Angutiguluk’s death?

And finally, did the accused have the intent to either cause her death or to cause bodily harm that would likely cause her death?

If the jury decides that he did not intend either, then they must find Benjamin guilty of manslaughter, Stober said.

“If you have a reasonable doubt about if she committed suicide then you must find the accused not guilty,” Stober said.

Angutiguluk was a 29-year-old mother of three from Puvurnituq who had moved to Montreal in 2013 and saw her mother every day her mother was in Montreal for medical visits.

Angutiguluk was found dead, wearing nothing but underwear, in the bed the couple had shared, after a night of drinking and fighting.

Stober told the jury that although he is the judge of the law, that they are the judge of the facts and that their duty as jurors is to assess the evidence impartially.

“You are the sole judges of the evidence and you decide the facts,” Stober said.

“It’s my job to determine what rules of law apply in this case and it is your duty to accept the law as I explain it to you.”

Stober told the six men and six women on the jury that they have the duty to decide whether or not Benjamin is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, based only on the facts.

He explained that the presumption of innocence means that Kwasi enters the trial with a clean slate.

“Even if you believe the accused is probably guilty or likely guilty, that’s not sufficient,” he said. Stober reviewed the testimony of witnesses and evidence presented by the Crown and the defence throughout the six-week trial.

“Remember it is the force of the evidence that counts—not the number of witnesses,” he said.

Stober told them to keep an open mind and to avoid taking firm positions too early in their deliberations. He also explained that they can consider both types of evidence: direct and circumstantial.

“When you go to the jury room, use the same common sense you use in your daily life,” he said.

While reviewing the evidence with the jurors, the judge reminded them of the testimony of Caleb Clark, who said Benjamin arrived at Angutiguluk’s memorial service with a new girlfriend.

When Benjamin had testified in his own defence last week, he said the woman was just a friend—not a girlfriend. He had just offered to let the woman live at his apartment in the weeks after Angutiguluk’s death because she had nowhere else to go, Benjamin had told the court.

Stober told the jury to be careful while assessing the importance of that evidence, explaining that the Crown had presented it as proof of a possible motive.

He urged them to not infer guilt simply because Benjamin might have had a new girlfriend so quickly after Angutiguluk was found dead in his bed.

“Your role is not to determine if he was a good boyfriend or not,” Stober said.

He also reminded the jurors that if they believe the testimony of the accused they must acquit him.

The jury has now retired to determine a verdict.