Ian Bush has been found guilty of murdering three Ottawa seniors nearly a decade ago.
After less than two hours of deliberation, a jury found Bush, 62, guilty of three counts of first-degree murder in the gruesome deaths of court judge Alban Garon, his wife Raymonde Garon, and their neighbor Marie-Claire Beniskos.
“I’m just so glad it’s over,” Jean Perley, a Garon family friend, said with tears in her eyes outside the courthouse Wednesday afternoon. “I hope he rots in hell.”
The three seniors, all of them in their 70s, were found beaten, bound and gagged in the Garons’ Ottawa condo in June, 2007.
The case turned cold until DNA evidence led police to lay murder charges against Bush in 2015. Bush had pleaded not guilty to the crimes. He has been sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 25 years.
“Even after being convicted of perhaps the most horrific crimes you can imagine, the senseless murder of elderly citizens in their own home, an in horrific fashion, he was grinning as he walked out of the courtroom,” crown attorney James Cavanagh said of Bush outside the courthouse Wednesday. “And I think that is maybe the best way of evaluating what Ian Bush is.”
The verdict, which was a decade in the making, came after a seven week trial. Cheers and tears both greeted its reading.
“Nothing will bring the victims back,” Ottawa police Staff Sergeant Tim Hodgins told reporters on Wednesday. “The only thing that happens from now on is people get to move on and Mr. Bush doesn’t get to hurt anybody else.”
Bush is also facing multiple charges for allegedly restraining, beating and robbing a 101-year-old World War II veteran in Ottawa in Dec. 2014. Ernest Cote, Bush’s alleged victim, passed away in Feb. 2015. The case, which was not mentioned in court in order to assure Bush of a fair trial, will be heard this fall.
With files from CTV Ottawa
