Laval man accused of murdering his wife was not desperate, lawyer says

Article content

Ernesto Fera’s financial problems weren’t serious enough to push him to murder his wife 17 years ago, one of his defense attorneys argued Tuesday.

Article content

Fera is charged with the first degree murder of his wife, Nadia Panarello. She was stabbed to death on February 12, 2004 inside the couple’s home on Michel-Gamelin St. in Laval. Fera, 55, was charged with the murder in 2019.

While presenting final arguments in the case in the St-Jérôme court, defense attorney Isabelle Lamarche highlighted how Fera was charged 15 years after Panarello’s death.

“I would like to remind the court that 17 years have now passed. There was an investigation in 2004 and no charges were filed before 2019. The Crown did not present any new evidence between 2004 and 2019, the date of Mr. Fera’s arrest. So why did it take so long? We will never know, ”Lamarche said, while arguing that the passage of time had an impact on the evidence heard by Superior Court Judge James Brunton, especially the memoirs of witnesses.

Article content

The theory behind the Crown case is that Fera and Panarello were in serious financial trouble in 2004 and the motive for the murder was that Fera would collect on a life insurance policy. The other part of Crown’s theory is that Fera had the exclusive opportunity to kill his wife.

Panarello’s body was discovered by her mother, who had volunteered to care for her daughter after Fera was informed that Panarello did not show up for work at Future Electronics in Pointe-Claire. He had to open a door to enter, and the police discovered that all other entry points were also closed.

Lamarche asked Brunton to take into account how there was evidence that Panarello fought with the person who killed her and that the DNA of a person who was never identified was found under her fingernails.

Article content

“The evidence of the financial difficulties is not the magnitude of the murder,” Lamarche told Brunton. “It’s not like it’s high above his head and there’s no way out.”

Evidence of the couple’s financial troubles came in the form of several documents filed at the beginning of the trial in November.

The couple had missed the last three mortgage payments and were seven months behind in paying school taxes. Panarello had stopped making the car payments and Fera owed $ 77,000 through a loan he had arranged with his employer.

Lamarche described that the couple had lived “the life of the American dream” and said they were married in their 20s and living in their third home.

“It is more or less the progression of a young couple who want to succeed in life. They had a mortgage, they had the help of their families and they just moved from one house to another as the family grew, ”said the lawyer.

Article content

“Basically, they were an everyday couple with no antecedents. They were both reserved people with low-key personalities. In Nadia Panarello’s case, she had a bubbly personality at work and all she talked about was her family and her (two) daughters – her pride and joy.

“They were described as a loving couple. There is no evidence of (prior) violence, no evidence of disputes. “

Lamarche said the evidence shows that the couple had options to get out of financial difficulties. They had room left on a line of credit, equity in their home and only $ 149,000 left on their mortgage, he said.

[email protected]