Quebec man admits to murdering 10-year-old girl in 1994

A Quebec man has been found guilty of second-degree murder in the killing of a 10-year-old girl in a northern Montreal suburb more than 31 years ago, bringing closure to the young victim’s family.

Réal Courtemanche, 62, already in prison for other crimes, admitted Friday that the evidence in the case proves beyond a reasonable doubt that he murdered Marie-Chantale Desjardins.

The 10-year-old disappeared on July 16, 1994, after leaving a friend’s house at the end of the day in Sainte-Thérèse, Que., northwest of Montreal. Her body was found four days later in the woods behind a shopping centre in the neighbouring community of Rosemère.

Desjardins’s killing remained a cold case until Courtemanche’s arrest in prison in 2023, thanks to advances in DNA analysis.

The victim’s mother, Sylvie Desjardins, addressed the court in Saint-Jérôme, Que., in an emotional message aimed at Courtemanche. She said she felt immense grief but also enough strength and love to speak on her slain daughter’s behalf and to tell him how his actions took her girl away from her family.

Later, she spoke to reporters outside the courtroom. “It really brings things full circle, it closes a 31-year journey,” she said. “Marie-Chantale can now rest in peace.”

Quebec provincial police arrested Courtemanche at La Macaza Institution, in Quebec’s Laurentians region, in December 2023.

The Crown and defence suggested Courtemanche be given the maximum sentence for second-degree murder — life imprisonment without possibility of parole for 25 years. Typically, in second-degree murder convictions, time served before parole eligibility can range between a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 25 years.

Quebec Superior Court Justice Hélène Di Salvo took the recommendation under advisement and will issue a ruling Nov. 10.

Courtemanche, who has racked up several dozen convictions since 1981, was declared a dangerous offender in 2015 and given an indeterminate sentence — which has no set end date — after his conviction for kidnapping a woman and assaulting her with a knife.

“Neither age, the passage of time, the accumulation of sanctions and prison terms, nor supervisory or surveillance measures have led the accused to change his criminal behaviour, which is often violent and impulsive toward others,” Quebec court Judge Jacques Trudel wrote in his May 2015 decision declaring Courtemanche a dangerous offender.

That ruling noted that since 1981, Courtemanche had been convicted of 89 criminal offences, including 28 breaches of court orders and 10 counts of breaking and entering. Trudel said Courtemanche was tied to at least 12 cases involving the use of violence or threats of violence.

At the time, his responsibility for Desjardins’s killing was unknown.