WATCH: The family of a man killed during a stabbing in 2016 flew out for the expected sentencing of his killer this week. Twenty-six-year-old Justin Carte pleaded guilty to manslaughter for stabbing 20-year-old Raphael Bussieres on Nov. 26, 2016. But as Mary Griffin reports, the family says nothing will bring their son back.
Raphael Bussieres’ mother, father, and sisters walked out of the Victoria courthouse on Dec. 22. Moments before, the man who pleaded guilty to manslaughter for killing the 20-year-old Quebec City resident apologized to the family. His father does not mince words at news Justin Carte will be sentenced for manslaughter, instead of second-degree murder.
“Seriously, it’s bulls**t. And we did not receive his apology,” Nicholas Bussieres said.
His mother, Stephanie Lachance, is also upset. “We say that it’s a manslaughter, it’s not a murder. For me, it doesn’t make sense”.
A drug addict for ten years, and high on drugs at the time, Carte approached Bussieres outside the McDonald’s restaurant at the corner of Douglas and View streets early in the morning on Nov. 26, 2016. He stabbed Bussieres in the neck. Two days later, Bussieres died in hospital. Carte’s long criminal record lists 32 previous convictions for violence-related crimes.
“It is really hard,” said Lachance. “The result of this crime is we lost our Raphael. Raphael is not here with us. And the other side, the other guy will be in the street in the next four, five, six, maybe eight years,” Nicholas said.
Bussiesers lived in Tofino for three years before moving to Victoria. He had only been in the city a month before his death. In court, during victim impact statements, his parents described how close their son was to his younger sisters. Just a short time before the stabbing took place, he phoned his 13-year-old sister Delphine and told her to go to bed, that they would talk later. But that would never happen. His father said the loss will never be diminished.
“A young, 20 years boy with a lot of life. So, it’s very, we miss him. A lot,” Nicholas said.
Carte could face up to eight years for manslaughter when he is sentenced next week.
Mary Griffin
