Notorious killer Ian Bush's request for triple-murder re-trial dismissed

Bush is serving a life sentence for the killings of Alban Garon, his wife, Raymonde, and their friend, Marie-Claire Beniskos in 2007.

Published Jun 15, 2024 • Last updated 5 hours ago • 3 minute read

A 2015 file photo of Ian Bush. Photo by Mike Carroccetto /POSTMEDIA FILES

Ontario’s highest court found there were errors made by the judge who presided over Ian Bush’s triple-murder trial, but the evidence against the notorious killer was “so overwhelming” that there was “no realistic possibility” of any outcome other than a conviction for first-degree murder.

Bush, 68, is serving a life sentence for the horrific murders of retired tax court judge Alban Garon, his wife, Raymonde, and their friend, Marie-Claire Beniskos, all in their seventies, who were found hogtied, severely beaten and suffocated to death inside their luxury condo on June 30, 2007, in a crime that shocked the city and baffled investigators for years.

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Police cracked the cold case after Bush stormed into 101-year-old Ernest Côté’s condo in a 2014 home invasion that closely mirrored the killings seven years earlier, with Bush using fake City of Ottawa identification to gain access to Côté’s secure building.

Investigators matched DNA left by Bush at both crime scenes.

Bush stood trial in 2017 and was found guilty by two separate juries.

He was convicted and sentenced to life for Côté’s attempted murder in May 2017 and found guilty on all three counts of first degree-murder in December 2017.

Bush lodged two appeals in March through his appellate lawyers, Mark Halfyard and Samantha Bondoux: one seeking a new trial on the first-degree murder charges and another, launched two days later, that sought a reduced sentence for the attempted murder.

Both have been dismissed by the Court of Appeal.

His lawyers argued Bush received an “unfit” life sentence Côté’s attempted murder, but the three-judge panel dismissed that appeal. The judges ruled the proposed sentence of 10-12 years would be “woefully inadequate” given the circumstances of the case.

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Bush’s lawyers also argued there were errors made by Superior Court Justice Colin McKinnon as he presided over Bush’s triple-murder trial.

In March, Halfyard argued the trial judge erred by admitting evidence that suggested Bush was planning other crimes — and other killings — during the period between the murders and his arrest.

Police searched Bush’s home following his arrest and seized a black leather bag, described in court as a “toolkit for murder,” which included duct tape, rubber gloves, knives and plastic bags.

In a ruling from Justice Jonathon George published Thursday, and endorsed by Justice Ian Nordheimer and Justice Steve Coroza, the appellate judges found McKinnon did make errors in allowing the evidence at the 2017 trial.

“I find that the trial judge erred by admitting into evidence the contents of a bag seized from the appellant’s residence without analyzing the probative value and prejudicial effect of each item in the bag individually,” the appeals panel ruled.

“This was essential given the risk that the jury would misuse this evidence by concluding the appellant was the type of person who would commit the Garon murders.”

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The judge also erred, the Court of Appeal found, by instructing jurors to convict Bush on all three counts of first-degree murder if they found he committed a planned and deliberate murder of any one of the three victims.

“However, despite these errors, the evidence against the appellant was so overwhelming that I would apply the curative proviso and dismiss the appeal,” George wrote.

The “curative proviso” in the Criminal Code of Canada permits an appellate court to dismiss an appeal, even when errors were committed in the lower court, if the judges are “of the opinion that no substantial wrong or miscarriage of justice has occurred.”

According to the ruling, “Irrespective of whether it is planned and deliberate, murder is first-degree murder when the death is caused while committing forcible confinement. In this case, the evidence that the victims were killed while forcibly confined was overwhelming,” George wrote.

“The evidence clearly established that all three victims were forcibly confined when they were killed. As such, there is no realistic possibility that a new trial would generate an outcome other than a conviction for first-degree murder.”

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