The woman accused of participating in the murders of two brothers and then cremating the corpses swears that she knew nothing, thus denying any responsibility.
“It was as if time has stood still. It is a picture that I will never forget. This event … There had never been any mention of murder, I wondered why ”, sobbed Marie-Josée Viau, this Monday at the Gouin Judicial Center in Montreal.
The 46-year-old is accused with her firefighter spouse Guy Dion, 50, of the murders of brothers Vincenzo and Giuseppe Falduto and of plotting their deaths in June 2016.
According to the Crown, the couple would have assisted a mafia hitman and his accomplice by eliminating the brothers in the garage of their residence in Saint-Jude in Montérégie.
Viau and Dion would then have cremated the corpses, according to incriminating statements obtained by the hitman who returned his jacket to become an informer.
Testimony in her defense, Viau however assured yesterday that she had not been aware of anything.
“We didn’t know what to do, things were jostling in my head,” said Viau.
But if she swears to have seen the killer and his accomplice “burn things” in the courtyard of the residence, she has denied any responsibility in this case.
“I didn’t want… we weren’t responsible for this, we didn’t want it,” she sobbed.
Not burnt
And just like her partner Guy Dion before her, Viau swore never to have burned the corpses, but rather to have deposited them at a certain “Guidou”, after the accomplice of the killer would have asked them to drop a car there.
“The solution came like that, we didn’t ask ourselves any questions,” said Viau.
And when questioned by her lawyer Me Mylène Lareau, the accused claimed to have acted as she could, in the circumstances.
“Basically, it wasn’t our responsibility, we didn’t want to take it,” she said. None of this was planned. “
His testimony, before Judge Eric Downs who is presiding over the jury trial, continues this afternoon.
www.journaldemontreal.com