A Lakeshore woman seeking leniency on a drug-dealing charge says her abusive ex-husband had a fetish for penis piercings, got high on his own supply, was connected with corrupt police officers — and may have set her up.
“The devil himself. That’s how I see him,” Sabrina Lacommare said to RCMP investigators about her estranged spouse, Mark Anthony Trudel.
In a rambling interview with RCMP in 2012, Lacommare suggested Trudel exchanged money, drugs, and information with members of OPP and the Windsor Police Service.
“I’m not doing anything,” Lacommare, 49, told RCMP. “He’s the one that’s running the show.”
A video recording of the three-hour interview was played in Superior Court on Tuesday.
In January, Lacommare pleaded guilty to one count of possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking — a charge related to an arrest and raid by OPP in June 2011.
Cocaine packaged for sale was found in Lacommare’s purse and at her residence.
Although Lacommare admits she sold drugs, she’s hoping for a break on her penalty based on the idea that she only did it for a short time to raise money to escape her relationship with Trudel.
Lacommare said her arrest was “a blessing in disguise, because it was my way out.”
“I just want my life back. I was brought up by a very good family and I made a mistake.”
According to Lacommare, she only learned of Trudel’s involvement in drugs after their marriage in 2001.
Lacommare said that after her arrest, she tried to tell OPP about Trudel, but “they didn’t want to hear about Mark.”
“People were shutting me up,” she claimed.
At one point in the interview, Lacommare said a retired Windsor police officer once told her he wanted to import drugs from Thailand with Trudel.
Lacommare told RCMP that Trudel has been in the drug trade for 20 years and “will never get out.”
But when pressed for more information about Trudel’s methods and connections, Lacommare characterized him as “an idiot” who is “too stupid to use code words” and “can’t keep his mouth shut.”
Lacommare also told police Trudel “rats people out to get out of trouble,” and she’s “pretty sure a lot of people don’t like him.”
Sgt. Steven Richardson of the RCMP testified that he found Lacommare’s statements in the interview “scattered,” “misleading,” “self-serving,” and “deceptive.”
“It became very clear to me she was just as involved in the drug trade as her husband,” Richardson said in court.
Defence lawyer Patrick Ducharme, who is representing Lacommare, demanded to know why Richardson didn’t follow up on Lacommare’s information.
“These allegations were buried,” Ducharme said. “What reason did you have to disbelieve?”
Richardson responded: “I just didn’t think it was credible.”
Under questioning by Ducharme, Richardson testified that a full-scale investigation of Trudel was never launched by RCMP, and RCMP surveillance of Trudel totalled less than eight hours.
Richardson said he felt Lacommare was minimizing her own involvement and wouldn’t answer direct questions. “She tries to portray herself as some sort of hapless victim.”
Ducharme accused Richardson of “feigning naiveté,” and said Trudel was, in fact, “very hooked up with the OPP.”
Justice Renee Pomerance reminded both the prosecutor and the defence that the purpose of the evidence is to determine if Lacommare deserves leniency in sentencing — not necessarily to determine the truth of her allegations.
The sentence hearing resumes Wednesday.
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