Nicolas Brazeau-D’Avignon sentenced to life in prison for 2020 Gatineau murder | CBC News

Warning: There are disturbing details in this story.

Nicolas Brazeau-D’Avignon was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for the 2020 murder of a man in Gatineau.

The other accused in the case, Danny Hamel-Racine, was also sentenced in a Gatineau courthouse Thursday and received six years behind bars.

Brazeau-D’Avignon, 33, had been found guilty of second-murder in the violent death of Matthew Francis O’Heron and will not be eligible for parole for 15 years. Hamel-Racine was found guilty of manslaughter.

Judge Lachance considered several aggravating factors in Brazeau-D’Avignon’s sentence, including his long criminal record totalling 13 years behind bars since 2007. He also previously received a life sentence for a separate crime.

“It will be up to him to prove to the Parole Board of Canada that he no longer represents a danger to society,” Lachance said while reading her judgment in French.

The other accused, Hamel-Racine, has spent a total of 1,018 days in pretrial detention. As a result, the judge decided he has served an equivalent 1,527 days in prison and has just 22 months behind bars remaining on his sentence.

The judge also considered aggravating factors in Hamel-Racine’s sentence. The defendant has spent more than four years behind bars since 2012, during which time he was disciplined numerous times.

A violent fight

In her judgment, Lachance described the sequence of events on the evening of Nov. 13, 2020 when the murder took place.

The victim, O’Heron, got into an argument with a woman at a party at her home. The host then asked him to leave because of his unpleasant behaviour. O’Heron resisted.

Hamel-Racine then hit him on the shoulder with a machete and O’Heron left. Later, O’Heron expressed his desire to return to the party and the host contacted Brazeau-D’Avignon. The two defendants reassured the host and told her not to worry.

The remaining events were captured on the surveillance cameras of a neighbouring business.

Armed with a shovel, Brazeau-D’Avignon went up to the victim. After a fight broke out, Hamel-Racine joined him.

Brazeau-D’Avignon struck O’Heron repeatedly with the shovel before stabbing him eight times. Despite the attack, O’Heron managed to defend himself until Hamel-Racine struck him a final time on the head with a shovel.

The two accused returned to the host’s home to clean the knife, shower, wash their clothes and change into new clothes. The victim, left behind, was found the following morning.