WARNING: This story may be disturbing for some readers.
A trial is underway in BC Supreme Court for a 28-year-old Nanaimo woman accused of murdering her boyfriend and leaving pieces of his body around the city.
On Tuesday in Vancouver, the woman’s former boss, Terry Lynn Boyle, took the stand and testified that Paris Laroche told her what happened after she had been arrested and questioned by police.
Laroche is facing a charge of first-degree murder and indecently handling the remains of her then-boyfriend, 32-year-old Sidney Joseph Mantee.
It was at Amethyst Forest in Nanaimo North Town Centre where Laroche worked for close to seven months.
The store’s owner, Boyle, testified that on May 7, 2021, Boyle got a call from Nanaimo RCMP saying her employee had been arrested and questioned about the murder of her boyfriend.
Boyle testified the next day, saying Laroche called her and told her the allegations were true.
She says Laroche told her that more than a year earlier, Mantee had threatened to kill her, her family and friends and had thrown one of her cats against the wall.
Later that night, she says she hit Mantee in the head with a hammer while he was sleeping, killing him.
Boyle also testified that Laroche told her she put Mantee’s body in the refrigerator and took pieces of his body in her backpack, leaving them around Nanaimo at Neck Point, Pipers Lagoon and the waterfront.
Boyle said Laroche told her it all happened before she was hired at the store.
Boyle testified she was shocked to hear it and told Laroche that police were probably bugging the phone conversation.
She says Laroche responded that it was OK because she had already told two undercover cops.
She only worked a few more shifts before going to work at another nearby store.
Boyle testified she felt Laroche had been in an abusive relationship.
Police did numerous searches along Nanaimo park waterfronts and an exhaustive search of the Rosehill Street apartment that Laroche and Mantee shared.
On March 10, 2022, police announced that Laroche was charged with Mantee’s murder, and she’s been in custody ever since.
The crown has indicated Laroche’s lawyers will argue the killing was an act of self-defence, while its view is that the slaying was not done out of fear.
The crown expects to call 20 witnesses during the trial, which is scheduled to last for a month.
Kendall Hanson
