LETHBRIDGE, ALTA.\u2014The Crown in the triple-murder trial of a southern Alberta man told a jury they should find Derek Saretzky guilty because he confessed to police and that confession is supported by evidence. \u00a0But Saretzky\u2019s lawyer reminded them his client is innocent until proven guilty and the prosecution has to prove every aspect of the case. \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s the Crown\u2019s job not only to prove the accused did the crime they\u2019re accused of but also all elements of the offences,\u201d Patrick Edgerton told the jury.<\/p>\n
Saretzky, 24, is facing three counts of first-degree murder in the September 2015 deaths of Terry Blanchette, his two-year-old daughter Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette and 69-year-old Hanne Meketech five days earlier.<\/p>\n
Saretzky is also charged with committing an indignity to Hailey\u2019s body. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.<\/p>\n
Edgerton told the jury the investigation into Meketech\u2019s death wasn\u2019t perfect and questions remain about the night the senior was killed. He also suggested Saretzky was pushed into confessing to her death after spending a tough six months in custody, charged with the killing of the father and daughter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would suggest these are the words of somebody who has sort of given up,\u201d Edgerton said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s up to the jury to decide whether Saretzky\u2019s confessions to killing Blanchette and his little girl are reliable, he said.<\/p>\n
Crown prosecutor Photini Papadatou told the jury Saretzky\u2019s confessions included details only the killer would know, such as what happened to Hailey and how Meketech died.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can you be satisfied that this man, Derek Saretzky, killed each of these people?\u201d Papadatou said. \u201cOne, he told you that he did it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Papadatou urged the jury to believe what Saretzky had told police even though people sometimes confess to crimes they didn\u2019t commit.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do we know it\u2019s true that he killed her after confessing to it?\u201d Papadatou asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe says \u2018I can take you to the body\u2019… and that\u2019s what he does. He takes them to the body.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the trial, the jury watched a video where Saretzky took police to the campsite where Hailey\u2019s body was found and re-enacted choking her to death, cannibalizing and dismembering her before throwing her remains in a firepit.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve seen the video. It is chilling. You\u2019ve heard the evidence. It is disturbing,\u201d she said. \u201cI am asking you to return a verdict on first-degree murder in relation to each of the victims.\u201d<\/p>\n
Court heard Saretzky tell police he killed Meketech \u2014 a friend of his grandparents \u2014 on the spur of the moment and because he \u201cdidn\u2019t think anybody cared about her.\u201d The jury heard he kicked in the door of her mobile home and bludgeoned her to death before stabbing her in the throat.<\/p>\n
The Crown called it a trial run. After Meketech was killed, Papadatou said Saretzky had five days to think about what he had done before he killed Blanchette and kidnapped Hailey.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had time to pause, to reflect,\u201d she said. \u201cHaving thought this through, he decided to do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The killings all occurred in the small close-knit region known as the Crowsnest Pass in southwestern Alberta.<\/p>\n
Saretzky knew all three victims, as well as Hailey\u2019s mother, Cheyenne Dunbar, who he claimed to have dated. Dunbar testified that they were only friends.<\/p>\n
By BILL GRAVELAND<\/p>\n
Source: \u00a0thestar.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"