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00:03Claire wanted to travel Claire wanted to see the world she had talked about going to Scotland I
00:11was like yeah that'd be fantastic she seemed happy and I get it it's beautiful there everything was
00:19supposed to be fine she was a good member of the community she had friends she was walking dogs
00:23there is nothing in my mind that something like this would would would happen I've been at various
00:30serious incidents but it's very unusual to have a murder in Shetland murders don't happen very much
00:38here I call Scotland police and my first question was is my daughter alive
00:5315 people are picked at random US jurors will decide whether or not the charges are proved
01:00on the evidence presented in the trial the jury has a lot to consider I can't guess what that
01:06verdict will be she sold everything she owned to come to Shetland she's got a boyfriend she's got
01:14a fast car and she's dead in a matter of months it was just another day for her she had
01:21no idea what
01:22was coming it is every parent's absolute waking nightmare
02:00murder is probably the most serious allegation that anybody can face
02:09in court number one his majesty's advocate against Aaron Bylet Pearson
02:27I'm an advocate deputy in Scotland my job is to prove to the jury that Aaron Pearson killed Claire Levesque
02:43call the diet his majesty's advocate against Aaron Bylet Pearson have a seat please
02:54you are as jurors the judges of the facts of the case you must not be swayed by any emotional
03:00considerations or any prejudice or any revulsion which you might have the jury are critical the jury
03:08decide the evidence they decide what is reliable that is accurate evidence that is their function
03:16every accused is presumed innocent until proved guilty the crown must establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt
03:28the charges against Aaron Bylet Pearson are that one in order to prove murder the crown has to prove that
03:37Aaron Pearson either intended to kill Claire Levesque or what he did was so wickedly reckless that he had
03:44no care for the consequences of his actions whereby she was so severely injured that she died there
03:50and he did murder her I represent Aaron Pearson at his trial the point of a trial is that the
04:00crown lay before a jury an allegation
04:05and that allegation in this case his murder there is no onus on an accused person to disprove the case
04:16the crown have to prove the case
04:26I now invite the advocate deputy to open the crown case
04:29advocate deputy thank you my lord the first witness for the crown is number 38 on the crown list
04:36uh Dana Jameson my lord thank you
04:39would you please raise your right hand and repeat after me I swear by almighty god
04:43I swear by almighty god that I will tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth and
04:47nothing but the truth
05:02Shetland is absolutely beautiful
05:06there's some sort of magic and mystery in it
05:12it's quite a peaceful place you might not bump into someone for a whole day walking in Shetland
05:23when Claire graduated she wanted to go be a psychologist so she wanted to take the time off and just
05:30kind of grow as a person
05:33she was excited when she first got there she was sending videos and pictures and
05:40I had always dreamed of going there myself so it was kind of fun to vicariously live through her and
05:46her adventure
05:49Claire arrives in Shetland
05:52with a man that she has fallen in love with
05:56but it's about to end
05:58in terrible terrible tragedy
06:08Good afternoon Miss Jameson I'm going to ask you some questions today
06:13Okay
06:14Now on the 11th of February of 2024
06:17at around 5 to 5 that evening
06:21were you made aware that a 999 telephone call had been received in respect of an incident at Sanis in
06:30Shetland?
06:30Yes, yeah
06:31My lord what I'd like to do now is to introduce the 999 telephone call into evidence
06:37Thank you
06:42In this case I think the most impactful piece of evidence is the 999 call made by Janet Pearson, Aaron
06:48Pearson's mother
06:51Police, what's the address of the emergency?
06:55Ringville
06:55Ringville
06:56Yes, Sanis, Shetland
06:58What's the emergency there?
07:01Well, my son
07:04He's, he's had this girlfriend
07:07and she's desperately, desperately, desperately
07:12She's bleeding
07:13Where is the girlfriend at the moment?
07:16She's bleeding
07:17She's bleeding
07:17Where is she?
07:18And dying in a hot tub in the shed
07:20Hot tub
07:21Right, the line's going to go silent
07:22Do not hang up
07:24I will be back to you
07:25Do not hang up
07:37In the summer of 23, Claire met Aaron Pearson
07:42The connection was her previous boyfriend
07:45It was one of his friends
07:48But we never met him
08:00Claire didn't tell me that she was seeing this guy until she was already in Scotland
08:09Probably because I would not have encouraged her to go to Scotland with a man she had just recently met,
08:17especially given the age range
08:21He's 15 years older
08:23It's pretty freaking weird
08:25I love this one
08:27Dealership
08:27Yeah, that's
08:28That's a great one
08:29Kids in the backyard to grandmas
08:33The only thing I was told is I'm moving to Scotland and it all happened so quick and I thought
08:39everything was fine
08:42The couple arrive in the small village of Sanis
08:47And they move into the house with Aaron's elderly mum
09:02Hi there
09:02Hi
09:03Hi, tell me what's happened please
09:05I'm not dead, the car is in the ocean
09:07He says he's killed his girl's friend and if he drove his car into the ocean
09:13He's had some kind of an attack or psychotic
09:17I thought you said she's had the hot tub
09:19Hot tub is full of blood and I didn't recognise her, she's so badly beaten up
09:24So she is in the hot tub
09:25And she was alive at the time, she was mourning
09:30Are you able to go and check if she's alive?
09:33I don't want to
09:34I don't want to go
09:35I don't want to go
09:37I don't want to go
09:49I don't want to go
09:49On route where you made aware that the person who called 999 was still on the phone to the operator
09:55I think there was more information coming in as we were going along
10:06when the call initially came in it was still relatively light outside
10:16but during our drive out the sadness it got really dark
10:24we're aware of a call coming in about a male having stabbed a female
10:30it was a pretty unusual job we don't often get incidents like this here
10:37when something's happening it's a live situation you just kick into gear and deal with it
10:43i mean where's the knife at where's he at is he still alive
10:51hello hello hi my name is aaron pearson who are you i just killed my girlfriend in a hot tub
10:59in the
10:59garage at ringville the annex sanus claire levesque i stabbed her about 40 times uh in the heart and
11:13in the stomach and in the face and in the neck and in the back and uh i'm covered in
11:20blood
11:24it was horrific
11:27i remember sitting there thinking it can't get any worse than this and it got so much worse
11:36i stabbed myself in the neck four times i don't know why i'm still alive i should be dead
11:43i'll go and stab myself
11:44no no no like i can't live with the fact i just killed my stupid stupid girlfriend
11:50she drank too much and acted like an idiot and pissed me off
11:54i drove my porsche right into the ocean it's gone
11:58uh i got no much blood left yeah she is dead i definitely killed her
12:06bye bye have a good day bye
12:24admissions can be made when an individual is under the influence of something drink drugs
12:30they've been involved in a traumatic event they're upset so these admissions can be challenged in the
12:37court now mr pearson's position is that he had been involved what he said was a traumatic event
12:46uh and explained that he can't recollect that 999 call
12:59now miss jameson when you arrived what did you see
13:08well the hot tub was on my left hand side um the mail was in the hot tub and i
13:13could see that there
13:14was another body in the tub how did that person present lifeless
13:21i think she was floating on her back i could see like cuts on her face
13:27i just thought she had passed away that there wasn't any movement or anything
13:33she was floating in the water the water being this horrible black looking color
13:41i think i was just dealing with the matter at hand we had to
13:47get him under control and preserve life if we could
13:54now did your colleague uh pc simpson did he ask the mail to come out of the hot tub
13:59yes thank you very much
14:06good afternoon are you police constable kevin simpson yes i am what did you say to this individual
14:14i told him to stand up and show me his hands and when you got a better view what could
14:20you see
14:21in the hot tub i could see that the uh hot tub waters were dark nearly black and there was
14:28a
14:29female figure clothed uh nearly fully submerged within the waters
14:36did the man remain in the hot tub yes i had had my taser aimed at him with the red
14:43dots now on his chest
14:45and i was instructing him to stand up and get out
14:51he sat there in the hot tub for god knows how long holding her in her own blood
14:59just sitting there with her corpse
15:05mr patterson has some questions
15:10now officer would you agree that he was asked to get out of the hot tub and he did so
15:17not immediately would you agree that when he was asked to go onto his knees he did that
15:22at this point once he's stood up to get out he's showed positive behavior change and was uh
15:28following what pc glendon and myself would have been telling him right it's important if
15:35an individual who is being detained or arrested by the police is compliant
15:40and he may have been swearing a little bit at you and your colleagues at times would you accept that
15:46yes
15:47but we'd have to accept that he fully complied with you and your colleagues
15:52correct
15:53uh after the initial yes he had
15:55thank you
15:58mr pearson complied so it is very important to give a view to the jury about his
16:05his
16:05state of mind at the time
16:17there's things that i see that remind me of her
16:21every day
16:25this building right here after my daughter was born and my wife and i brought her to our
16:31little apartment here where we first lived
16:37little two-bedroom place in here in the top corner we had a little balcony
16:42okay there's claire going home
16:47first day home
16:49where did time go
16:54there's claire and her daddy
16:58oh she's tired time for a nap
17:08claire was my big sister yeah there was no one like claire
17:15she gave me a bit of a path to follow as a young child and her and my mother we
17:20shared a lot of fond memories together
17:23her smile was captivating she would just bring light into the room that she was in
17:28i could see a lot of her her mother in her her mother had unconditional love for her
17:35she was always there for her always someone to talk to
17:44her
17:44mr and mrs levesque
17:50my wife was very close to both my kids
17:52my wife was excellent
17:57claire's mom kathleen was like a second mom to me growing up it was really special
18:02but when claire and i were in high school her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer
18:11one of the biggest things that impacted claire was back in 2019 when her mom passed away breast cancer
18:19she did struggle
18:21claire was very broken for a very long period of time i know after high school mental health got worse
18:30she was a big part of claire's life and it was a terrible terrible loss the way that that that
18:35uh that she passed away
18:38it was uh i would say quite traumatic for her
18:43claire was mentally strong
18:46but she went through a lot
18:47losing my cancer
18:49so she went to scotland to get away and clear her mind maybe
18:57it was hard to see how much she was hurting and like it was something claire never truly truly ever
19:02really recovered from
19:05when she did leave to scotland it was very sudden
19:09i didn't really get a chance to say goodbye to her when she left
19:13and i was frustrated with her i was frustrated with her to not
19:19did i say goodbye
19:36i obviously want to preserve the scene
19:40it was kind of a mess
19:43kind of stuff everywhere
19:46it was a difficult place to live
19:48it wasn't a place that was well ordered
19:52there was bottles of alcohol in there too
19:55Aaron had said he'd drunk in a bottle of brake fluid
19:58and stabbed himself
19:59we did see marks on his chest area and neck area but it didn't look like they were serious wounds
20:10me and a colleague transferred mr pearson in the ambulance to the gilbert bain hospital in lerwick
20:19roughly what time did you get to the hospital
20:23about 20 20 hours that evening
20:26did he say anything to you
20:29yes he made um several verbal comments
20:33um what did he say
20:34i know exactly what i did i said it on the phone call to police i'm fucked
20:43an admission is very helpful evidence however it's not enough
20:47i have to be able to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that aaron pearson not only killed claire levesque but
20:54that he murdered her
21:11in the dog aaron pearson wept as he listened to the recording of his mother who died earlier this year
21:18at one point aaron pearson's voice could be heard
21:21saying that he stabbed claire levesque about 40 times
21:28in order to prove this case i need to build up a narrative
21:32what was happening in the daily lives of aaron pearson and claire levesque
21:52in order to intend to play the cctv
21:57in this case we have cctv showing the accused and claire levesque prior to the incident on the 11th of
22:05february
22:13at the time you can see them in the cctv
22:16neither one is injured
22:21him and claire ended up going out and going to the store to grab a couple things and a bottle
22:27of alcohol
22:27a white bottle with a gold colored top
22:37when i first see the footage it was so hard to keep it together in the courtroom
22:43but it was kind of nice because like i got to see claire again
22:54i just continued to play that
23:00it was just another day for her you know and you can see the little pep in the step in
23:04the one clip
23:06and i'm sitting here and it's like she had no idea what was coming
23:28every day there's something that triggers my mind
23:33i was robbed
23:34everybody was
23:41claire was
23:43funny
23:43she was an adventurer
23:48she was never wanting to sit still
23:54i had the privilege of knowing claire and being friends with and even being part of her family since we
23:59were about four years old
24:10her family did wonderful things for me and our friendship never ended after we finished school
24:17it's hard it still feels fresh and
24:22you say time heals but i feel this one
24:24i i can't begin to comprehend what clint must be going through
24:36but he is a very strong man and he is going to fight for his daughter tooth and nail as
24:42he has been
24:53what makes most angry is that i didn't see any signs
24:58i thought things were fine
25:07mr levesque how did claire feel about going to scotland
25:12what happened
25:12very very excited and adventurous
25:17did she tell you about any injuries or anything like that that she may have sustained
25:23nothing at all
25:24otherwise maybe this wouldn't have happened
25:28now i want to move on now mr levesque to the 11th of february of 2024
25:33okay
25:34did you receive any messages
25:37messages
25:38i did
25:39and who were the messages from
25:41from aaron
25:42and at this time
25:45did you have any concerns about claire
25:48absolutely
25:52we were heading back from the city
25:57and i was driving and he started getting these texts
26:02stating that claire was intoxicated and his mom was you know getting annoyed with her
26:10he says he sent her back in business class with 250 000 dollars
26:17aaron pearson would tell anyone who wanted to listen that he was a bitcoin millionaire
26:23that he had so much money that life was going to be no problem
26:28but he had tech in the local shop
26:31you can't be a bitcoin millionaire and be owing money in your local shop because you can't afford your milk
26:36he's full of shit
26:39i don't buy anything that comes out of his mouth
26:45then we received a message stating they had put her to sleep and she had some grilled cheese and they
26:52were taking care of her
26:55clint was confused he was texting back and saying we'll get her to call me
27:04something's not right here
27:09i found that kind of weird because that's just not my daughter if my daughter was coming home she'd tell
27:13me
27:27good afternoon mr levesque i've just have a couple of questions for you
27:31i'm on the 11th of february of 2024 did you have a telephone call or a voice call with aaron
27:40pearson
27:41no you didn't have a call a voice call an audio call no
27:49we have some records which suggest there was a one minute 53 second audio call that day
27:54don't remember it i mean if it did happen now like i said i was i've been in shock for
28:00a year and a half
28:03well the phone call was one minute 53 seconds mr levesque said that he couldn't remember that
28:09i suppose there's a decision that can be made there and of course remembering that uh
28:15mr pearson was accused of murdering his daughter so i thought it was not necessary to press the point
28:36after clint was done testifying he came back and he was sitting with his family with us and he was
28:43like where is he he's right here
28:49he wasn't facing me he always i could see the back back of him and then i kind of recognized
28:56and put it
28:56together really wise him
29:08happy to tip you thank you lord next witness is number seven on the crown list riley la france
29:16the reason why i went to scotland to give witness testimony i thought i could feel a little bit
29:21closer to claire would you please raise your right hand and repeat after me i swear by almighty god
29:26one last time
29:29i'm going to ask you to look at a document with us uh mr la france it's a record of
29:34the interrogation of
29:35various mobile telephones and messages that were found do you understand that yes do you see a date
29:4128th november 2023 yes thank you and do you see that as a contact from claire levesque to yourself
29:49correct yes and does it say we need to talk uh yes it does just some shit happened and i
29:58don't know
29:58which direction to go i feel lost i just need some advice i'm leaving soon for sure but i don't
30:07know if i
30:07should stay with him or go back to canada or wtf to do is that what that says yes it
30:14does now after
30:15that message did you speak with claire yes she had talking about how she was being struck by uh the
30:24accused aaron pearson and um and that she was scared of him now in that phone call do you remember
30:32how she
30:32sounded uh she sounded quite quite quite scared what do you mean like just just scared for her safety i
30:40i would say the next day she she said that everything was fine that everything was okay and that everything
30:49was worked out don't worry about what i said last night i thought about what you said and i'm a
30:54little
30:54at fault we are getting along and sorting things out still unsure how to move forward and have a good
31:00future but i'm trying to make good choices in my gut though i just knew something wasn't right and uh
31:06i was quite concerned with that the rumor that i heard from a few good sources was that claire didn't
31:15have access to her passport she didn't have access to her own money so anything she did she did because
31:24was he allowed her to do that now i want to turn now to page 31 the next piece of
31:46evidence that's
31:47getting brought up is a audio recording that claire had taken of an argument between
31:53her and the accused my lord it does contain the voice of the deceased claire levec as well as the
32:02voice of aaron pearson the recording made in december of 2023 is a key piece of evidence in trying to
32:10establish that the incident on 11th february was not an isolated incident so this is crown label number 46
32:18and if that can be started please
32:47you beat the
32:48you can imagine that claire made every excuse under the sun in the beginning for aaron's behavior
33:01until she couldn't take it anymore i came here i left everything behind for you you pissed my bed
33:07you ruined it shut up i love you i love you too
33:14him trying to walk out of the courtroom was
33:16just unbelievable the bailiff grabbed him and sat him back down and good he has to hear it
33:22and you know what else why would you hit me because you were being a total drunk
33:28you're lucky i didn't dash your head okay you hit me yesterday you're a
33:34you hit me three times you beat the show to me twice yeah i did and the first two
33:39times you had it coming i knew you did you asked for it you were gonna kill me
33:47in my mind i'm sitting there and i'm like you had everything you needed to go to the police
33:53that video made me realize how truly afraid she was out there you told me you wanted to send me
34:01away
34:02i don't want to send you away but i have to send you away because you are too
34:08when you drink that you turn into this complete idiot that asks for beatings
34:14that is so risky sitting there and taking a recording like that and keeping it for as long
34:19as she did that was so risky but so brave for her
34:31i have heard accounts of women who tell me that aaron pearson had always been violent in
34:43that they needed hospital treatment this is our nickname arnold you know how to zoom oh yeah i know
34:53how to zoom all right oh look at his eye creepy
35:01i first met aaron when i was a kid he was dating my mom
35:09he was always kind to me he was like a father figure for four years alissa and her stepdaddy
35:16aren't he would help me with my homework he would come to all my birthdays we would spend christmases
35:24the way i remember my mom and aaron breaking up was very sudden
35:38while i was up in my room my mom and aaron had gotten in an argument
35:44my mom had slapped him and then he had said slap me one more time and you know i can
35:52legally punch you
35:52out kind of thing my mom slapped him again and then he had just full strength punched her right in
36:02the
36:02face and she had knocked a tooth out and was supposed to go to court but my mom did not
36:09follow
36:09through with going to court because she said she just didn't want to deal with the drama she just
36:13didn't want to deal with all of that stuff she was just gonna forget about it
36:35and then here we have claire who's now moved into this wee house in sunny with him
36:45claire pinned all her dreams on this man but aaron pearson was a liar this wonderful life that claire had
36:56been led to believe that she was going to live when she moved to shetland with aaron pearson was far
37:02from the truth
37:25lord
37:30Thank you, my lord.
37:31Thank you, advocate deputy.
37:31Thank you, my lord.
37:33Dr Robert Ainsworth is the pathologist, my lord,
37:36and will be speaking to the post-mortem examination
37:39of Claire Levesque.
37:41Now, what I will do is actually have the body map produced,
37:45if I might just step away.
37:49The body map shows the position of the injuries
37:53to Claire Levesque's head, her face, her back, and her chest,
37:58and their severe and significant injuries.
38:11I was shocked because I was like,
38:15that's horrific.
38:18Now, did you understand that the body map
38:22has been produced following a series of photographs
38:25that had been taken at post-mortem?
38:28Yes.
38:37Mr Paterson, do you want to brief?
38:41It's important the jury hears this without distraction.
38:44Correct.
38:45Hold on!
38:46Yes.
39:09Dr Ainsworth, you found on examination that Claire Levesque
39:14had 55 either injuries or sites of injury,
39:19is that correct?
39:20Yes.
39:21And that included at least 26 stab wounds,
39:24is that correct?
39:25Yes, there were at least 19 stab wounds
39:28to the head and neck region.
39:31The final cause of death were stab wounds
39:35of neck and chest.
39:38They found a minimum of 55 injuries to her,
39:43and the tip of the knife had been broken off in her skull.
39:49There was a very small metallic fragment
39:53in the depths of that wound
39:55within the right frontal bone of the skull.
40:05I want to just have a look at a photograph.
40:08One of those sites of injury
40:10is not terribly clear from the body map,
40:13and that is what's called a defensive injury to Claire's hand.
40:17In order to leave that evidence,
40:19I will show a photograph taken at post-mortem.
40:24Now, you make reference to a through-and-through stab wound.
40:28What do you mean by that?
40:29Yes.
40:30So an injury that has centered on one side
40:33continued through the soft tissues
40:35and out of the other side of the left index finger.
40:40If somebody is being assaulted with a knife,
40:44is it the position of the injury
40:49that would indicate that's a defensive type of injury?
40:52Yes. So an entirely normal reaction
40:56would be to try and deflect it somehow,
40:59and often that would involve the hands or arms
41:02trying to protect the face.
41:13When the forensic evidence came up, it was really hard,
41:16and I'm glad that Clint wasn't there for that.
41:20It was rough.
41:25I spent most of my time outside
41:27because I will not see those kind of photographs.
41:29I will not hear that kind of violence
41:31that's done to my daughter.
41:33I don't need to see the...
41:35see that for the rest of my life.
41:37Yeah.
41:38Don't need it.
41:39I'm glad you're okay.
41:49There can be challenging evidence in any criminal trial.
41:52Of course there can be.
41:53But the function of the defence, a lawyer,
41:57is to try and put a different aspect to that evidence if they can.
42:06Dr Ainsworth, could any of these injuries have been self-inflicted?
42:15Could they, in principle, have been self-inflicted?
42:19Yes.
42:20However, the fact that there were numerous injuries to the face,
42:26the stab through the finger on the left hand
42:31would be an unusual self-inflicted injury.
42:34The overall pattern here would not be consistent with self-infliction,
42:40in my opinion.
42:42What I took from his testimony was that it was not impossible.
42:46So, from that perspective, we have a possibility.
42:50And, of course, all that I'm endeavouring to do
42:54is to ask questions of this witness,
42:56which may raise doubt in the minds of the jury.
43:03You can't absolutely discount that, can you?
43:08I think it would be unrealistic to suggest
43:11that at least a number of these injuries were self-inflicted.
43:16However, in fairness,
43:18they were at locations that were, in principle, accessible,
43:22and therefore, in theory, could be self-inflicted.
43:32Thank you. Good morning, Lord.
43:34Mr. Pearson is to give evidence.
43:36You are innocent until you're proven guilty.
43:40I guess he thinks he can win over the jury.
43:43Mr. Pearson?
43:43Yes.
43:44This is a very tragic set of events.
43:47But what you can't do, members of the jury,
43:49is bring emotions into your decision-making.
43:52We've been through a lot in the last few years
43:56fighting for justice for her.
43:58She then looked at me, looked at the night,
44:02and stuck it in her stomach.
44:03It's clear that the defence position is going to be
44:06that Claire Levesque stabbed herself.
44:08I saw the jury cry.
44:11I saw the jury in shock.
44:13If you were to pause or hesitate...
44:17You murdered Claire Levesque, didn't you?
44:18How many times do I need to repeat myself, ma'am?
44:20Your duty is then to acquit.
44:22Members of the jury,
44:24have you reached your verdict?
44:26Yes.
44:44The jury is your verdict.
44:44I know.
44:48The jury is going to be in the party.
44:56This is one of those things.
44:56I agree.
44:56The jury is going to be in the party.
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