Closing arguments at body in barrel murder trial

Closing arguments resumed on Thursday at the first degree murder trial of 40-year-old Ashley Bourget of London.

In her closing address, defence lawyer Mary Cremer told the jury that despite the fact that Bourget was at her apartment on Adelaide Street south when 59-year-old Grant Norton was killed, she did not participate and was set up to take the fall by others.

Later, Crown Attorney Lisa Defoe argued that Bourget played a big role in the killing by striking the victim repeatedly with a baseball bat in July 2020. She and Norton were both involved in London’s drug scene.

The court has heard that Norton’s lifeless body was eventually found stuffed in a plastic barrel on a ravine along the Thames River near Jacqueline and Ada Streets in east London.

The jury will start its deliberations in the case once the judge delivers her charge.

At the beginning of the trial, Bourget pled not guilty