A third day of testimony continues Wednesday at the Desmond Fatality Inquiry in Guysborough, and RCMP Corporal Jerry Rose-Berthiaume, primary investigator for the case, was called to testify.
Rose-Berthiaume says there is evidence of premeditation, but the investigation led him to believe Lionel Desmond may not have known his daughter and mother were at the home, and had planned only to attack his wife, Shanna Desmond.
He went into further detail about the situation leading up to the deaths.
Rose-Berthiaume says, on New Year’s Eve, Desmond put his wife’s truck off the road because of icy conditions, and though no one in the vehicle considered it a big deal- Desmond did.
“He was very upset, he was very embarrassed, and that carried on through the drive home, Shanna drove home after the truck got out of the ditch,” he says. “[It] carried on all night, and basically, where nobody got any sleep, in relation to this truck going off the road, to the point where Shanna asked him to leave.”
Rose-Berthiaume says Desmond did leave, and spent the next two days in the process of moving out.
He says Desmond bought a rifle and bullets, and changed into the full-camo he was found in at the scene, on Jan. 3 before going to the home and fatally shooting his wife, daughter, and mother; then taking his own life.
