A Quebec Superior Court judge has rejected the request to stay the charges against a man accused of triple murder due to trial delay.
Shakti Ramsurrun is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in connection with fatal stabbings in Aylmer, Que. His estranged partner, 21-year-old Anne-Catherine Powers, her mother Louise LeBoeuf and her mother’s partner Claude Levesque, were all found dead in their home in May 2012.
Ramsurrun’s trial is scheduled to start in April, nearly five years after charges against him were laid.
Ramsurrun’s lawyer had argued that waiting so long for the trial was an unreasonable delay and that his clients’ charges should be stayed as a result. The request was made in light of a landmark Supreme Court of Canada decision last year, which set out new deadlines for completing trials and guidelines for “unreasonable” delays.
The Supreme Court ruled last July that trials should be completed within 30 months in superior courts and 18 months in provincial courts.
The ruling, known as the “Jordan decision,” also said that the Crown can challenge the notion that a trial delay is unreasonable by demonstrating "exceptional circumstances.”
The judge who ruled on the delay in Ramsurrun’s case Thursday found that, due to the complexity of the case and other factors, the wait for the trial does not warrant a stay of the charges against him.
With files from The Canadian Press and CTV’s Kevin Gallagher
