A Quebec man was sentenced to life in prison on Friday after pleading guilty to the February 2020 murder of 13-year-old Ocean Boyer.
Francois Senecal was convicted after pleading guilty to a second-degree murder charge at a courtroom in St. Jerome, Quebec, while the victim’s family filled the courtroom.
He was arrested and initially charged with first-degree murder in the days after the body of a 13-year-old girl was found on February 26, 2020 near a public road in Brownsburg-Chatham, Quebec, northwest of Montreal. She has been reported missing by her family after returning from school.
Supreme Court Justice Frans Charbono agreed with a joint recommendation from the Crown and the defense that he had spent 19 years in prison before being eligible for parole. A second-degree murder sentence carries an automatic life sentence.
Charbono did not go into details, but described the crime as despised and cowardly.
Senecal, now 53, was a longtime friend of Boyer’s family and the victim considered him an uncle.
“Everyone believed him,” Charbono said.
“However, instead of facing the consequences of the sexual acts he committed, Francois Senecal chose to kill the young victim in order to silence her, and then to erase all traces that could be related to him by taking off her pants covered with hair from his dog, “Charbono said.
Her family and relatives told the court that they would live forever with the pain, sorrow and anger of losing Boyer.
She was so young – 13 years old – how you do something so terrible, we will never understand what could make you do such an act and if that was not enough, you let us go through hell, waiting two years before pleaded guilty, “Caroline Sarazin, the young girl’s mother, told Senecal.
“You ruined our lives, you took part of ourselves.”
Veronica Sarazin, one of the young girl’s aunts, said February 26 would be etched in the family’s mind forever. She told Senecal that forgiveness is not an option. “The day you did the irreparable, the day you took our beautiful Ocean, our little angel,” the aunt told the court. “Our family will never be able to make up for her loss.”
Senecal burst into tears, saying he would like to go back and undo what he had done.
“I know my apologies are worthless, but I apologize the same,” he told the court in tears. “I would like to ask for forgiveness, but what I did is unforgivable.”
– This article from The Canadian Press was first published on April 22, 2022.
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