Man receives 15 years for death of local woman

BY ANDY BLATCHFORD

andy.blatchford@transcontinental.ca

A 41-year-old man was sentenced to 15 years in prison last month after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the 2005 death of his Ste. Geneviève girlfriend.

Following the July 28, 2005 death of Rachel Brood, 43, Sylvain Langlois was charged with first-degree murder.

However, a Dec. 22 plea bargain before Judge Réjean Paul reduced the charge.

Langlois will be eligible for parole after five years.

Brood’s 14-year-old son found her body in their Laframboise Place duplex the morning after she died.

The pathologist report said Brood was likely strangled with a forearm forced against her neck, according to Langlois’ lawyer Salvatore Mascia.

Langlois, who initially fled to Quebec City after Brood’s death, turned himself in to Montreal police at Station 3 in Ste. Geneviève three days later.

Langlois tried to commit suicide with a knife that night and came within a “few millimetres from death,� Mascia said.

Police said he was taken to hospital after questioning.

In front of the court Langlois expressed “sincere remorse,� his lawyer said, adding he had consumed a “substantial amount� of alcohol and cocaine before Brood’s death.

“I’m happy that it’s manslaughter,� Mascia said. “It’s definitely not a light sentence as far as manslaughters go.�

He said sentences for manslaughter involving conjugal violence are in the “higher range.�

The initial first-degree charges were reduced to second degree after the preliminary hearing.

According to a neighbour, Brood’s son was home at the time of her death, but thought she was sleeping. The teen made the shocking discovery when he went to wake her, the man said.

Popular in the tight-knit, working-class neighbourhood, Brood looked after local children and frequently made snacks for people who live on the street, the neighbour said.

“She was a good lady,� the neighbour told The Chronicle the day her body was found. “She watched out for everybody, especially kids. She was so proud of her son, like no tomorrow.�

The neighbour said the couple fought frequently and described Langlois as

“controlling.�