Murder accused driven by hatred for victim: Crown

Johnathan Townsend's primary motive for killing Corellie Bonhomme was his hatred for the woman he always referred to as 'the stripper,' the Crown argued Tuesday in its closing submission to jurors at the young man's first-degree murder trial.

His motive is evident in chat logs — which police discovered on his computer — detailing his conversations with a young American girl, before and after the 42-year-old woman's Aug. 8, 2013 stabbing death, prosecutor Crystal Tomusiak maintained

The conversations reveal the then 18-year-old's anger, which came through "in a powerful way," in the things he said about Bonhomme, calling her "bat shit crazy, a f....ing idiot, heavy make-up wearing whore," the assistant Crown attorney said in her 25-minute argument.

Townsend's chats "described in significant detail, his desire, intention and plan to kill" Bonhomme, Tomusiak said.

The fact he planned to kill Bonhomme and did so, is proven beyond a reasonable doubt by his own words, starting from the day he met the woman up until her death, in chats with the girl, a person he called his girlfriend and considered a confidant, she told the jurors.

Townsend intentionally killed Bonhomme and the killing was the result of planning and premeditation, the Crown said.

Just before Bonhomme's death, Townsend wrote that he was going to spill her blood all over his sheets and bed, and that's exactly what he did, Tomusiak said.

Defence counsel Jennifer Tremblay-Hall told jurors that "this is not a whodunit case," that Townsend has admitted killing Bonhomme, but the Crown must prove that he had that intention at the moment he stabbed her.

"Don't assume he had the intention," she said, minutes after urging them not to make assumptions when they review the evidence they heard during the seven-day trial. 

"Don't connect the dots for the Crown."

Townsend's "crazy, crazy dialogue" in the online chats doesn't mean planning, she argued in her 25-minute submission.

If he was planning to kill Bonhomme, why did he brush his teeth, take off his clothes, turn off the lights and crawl into bed with her. "It doesn't make sense if you plan to take someone's life that night," the lawyer said. 

"Why not just go over and stab this person?" Tremblay-Hall suggested, reminding the jurors Townsend had testified that he was suicidal when he took the knife to bed with him that night.

If he hated Bonhomme so much, why had he only stabbed her once, and if his actions were so planned and deliberate why did he not clean up the murder scene, the defence pointed out.

She questioned why Townsend would hate the woman enough to kill her. Bonhomme gave him money and bought him food, and made him feel like a man because he saw her naked.

Tremblay-Hall referred to her client's testimony that he was trying to recreate Bonhomme falling in love with him because he had been rejected earlier by someone else.

It "seems far fetched," but he "truly, truly believed that, as much as common sense tells you it's not rational," she maintained,  "but you're not Johnathan, creating an on-line persona" and talking about grisly things.

"You have to remember we live in a time when real people create fantasy lives online," Tremblay-Hall said, adding that doesn't mean that real life can't be woven in.

Townsend did this when he talked about poisoning the woman, but in reality never did that.

He interwove a South Park episode, about grinding up bones and did Internet searches about meat grinders, she said, adding "sometimes things get blurred."

There are theories about what happened that night, but "don't make the mistake of considering what you would have done in those circumstances," the defence said.

Tremblay-Hall pointed to Townsend's "odd behaviour," licking a cup and scratching himself, when he was interviewed by a city police detective two days after the murder.

In the video-taped interview with Staff Sgt. Tom Armstrong, which was shown in court, Townsend, who had checked himself into Sault Area Hospital before his arrest, was dressed in hospital garb and curled up in a chair, in the police station interview room, she said.

Townsend told the officer, he had been diagnosed with Asperger's in 2010.

He struggled with the diagnosis because he thought it meant he was stupid, and he thought it would be better to be labeled a psychopath, Tremblay-Hall said, adding that's what was going on in his mind.

In her argument, Tomusiak also suggested a second motive for the murder — Townsend's "desire for his girlfriend's approval and support."

In his Skype chats with the girl, he started talking about his urge to kill on July 24, 2013, and within a few days he mentioned his desire to kill Bonhomme in particular, the Crown said.

On Aug. 7, he asked her if he should do it and she gives him strong encouragement, telling him "do it or else," Tomusiak told the jurors.

That was the night Bonhomme had returned to his Lake Street apartment after a week-long absence, and Townsend's plan escalated to "it's now or never" in his words.

It was clear that he had to act that night and that's what he did, Tomusiak said.

Shortly after 2 a.m. on Aug.8, he messaged the girl that he was going to kill Bonhomme because "the b....h" refused to eat the food he had prepared for her.

He stated "this asshole is dead . . . even if I get caught."

His intention is clear, "he's weighed the consequences and is accepting the risk," Tomusiak said.

Townsend's attitude towards Bonhomme is reflected in his messages following her death, when he writes that he doesn't care that she's dead and complains "she's made a big mess," the prosecutor said.

Tomusiak argued that Townsend's evidence on the witness stand that he loved Bonhomme "is at odds with him own words before and after her death."

The knife wound that killed the woman required significant force. It started on one side of her neck and penetrated through to the other side.

"It had to go in and out. It's not plausible that it happened accidentally," Tomusiak said.

Superior Court Justice Michael Varpio will give his instructions to the jury Thursday.