Man accused in Calgary fatal stabbing said person responsible should ‘serve a life sentence’: interrogation video

The man accused of randomly attacking a Calgary woman while she walked to work in the Beltline three years ago told investigators he believed the person who was responsible should serve life in prison at the time.

Michael Adenyi, 29, is on trial for first-degree murder in the death of Vanessa Ladouceur, 30.

The woman was stabbed eight times while walking along 10th Avenue S.E. to a fitness facility where she worked on the morning of March 18, 2022.

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Adenyi’s interrogation video with police was played in court on Monday, the start of the third week of the jury trial.

In it, Scott Mizibrocky, with the Calgary Police Service, showed Adenyi surveillance video from the attack.

Adenyi denied it was him in the video showing footage leading up to and after the attack.

“That’s not me,” he told the detective. “It doesn’t quite look like me.”

The trial’s agreed statement of facts has determined the man in the footage is the accused.

The detective asked Adenyi whose blood was on his white runners that were seized when Adenyi turned up at the Foothills Medical Centre with cuts to his hand.

Adenyi said he believed it was just a stain.

“I don’t even know if that’s blood,” he said in the footage.

When asked what should happen to the person responsible for attacking Ladouceur, the accused said they should be in jail.

“Serve a life sentence, depending on the situation,” he said.

In the video, Adenyi told the detective he “got depressed sometimes” but said he did not experience anger.

Mizibrocky testified in court on Monday that at no time during the interview did the accused display any bizarre or concerning behaviour, such as appearing to hallucinate or see things in the room that were not there.

He said Adenyi was concerned with when he’d be able to leave to sleep and appeared to be in a “jovial mood.”

Ladouceur’s mother left the courtroom in tears during the interrogation video.

She and other family and friends have been present throughout the duration of the trial.

The trial resumes Tuesday.