Warning: This story contains details that may be disturbing to some readers
Disgraced Col. Russell Williams repeatedly sexually assaulted Jessica Lloyd despite the fact she had seizures and begged to be taken to hospital, a Belleville, Ont. court heard Tuesday.
Lloyd's family members sobbed as Crown prosecutors detailed the last hours of Lloyd's life during the second day of Williams's sentencing hearing for a series of sexually motivated crimes.
On Monday, Williams pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, two sexual assaults and 82 fetish break-ins in Eastern Ontario.
Before court recessed for the day, Williams was formally convicted of all charges against him after prosecutors spent two days detailing graphic evidence of his crimes.
Earlier Tuesday afternoon, court heard how the former commander of CFB Trenton told police he first noticed Lloyd when he spied her working out on her treadmill in the basement of her house. He then staked out her home, came back to watch her from the back yard before breaking in and approaching her in her sleep.
Williams tied her up, taped her mouth and repeatedly sexually assaulted her before taking Lloyd to his home in Tweed, where he had her shower, let her sleep and then again sexually assaulted her.
When Lloyd began having seizures, she begged Williams to take her to the hospital. Williams did not, and continued to assault her. He videotaped the entire ordeal.
"If I die, will you make sure to let my mom know that I love her," Crown prosecutors said Lloyd asked Williams.
Williams fed Lloyd some fruit before he hit her over the head with a flashlight and strangled her with a rope. That was Jan. 29. Williams left Lloyd's body at his home as he returned to work at CFB Trenton. He stayed overnight at the base before flying soldiers to California. He returned days later to dump her body in a nearby field.
For the past two days, Crown prosecutors have outlined how Williams went from stealing underwear from women's bedrooms to murdering two women from Eastern Ontario and sexually assaulting two other victims in the same region.
Earlier Tuesday, court heard how Williams suffocated flight attendant Cpl. Marie-France Comeau in her own home. Crown prosecutors detailed evidence that showed Williams used his authority to learn where she lived and when she worked.
Crown prosecutors told the court that Williams first noticed Comeau when she was working on a military flight.
The two had a conversation and Comeau mentioned that she lived alone.
Upon learning that information, Williams broke into her home twice last November. The second time, he killed Comeau, a 38-year-old career soldier.
The 47-year-old Williams, wearing a black suit and light-coloured striped shirt, sat quietly as his many crimes were described to the court on Tuesday.
Crown prosecutors explained how Williams first broke into the house where Comeau lived by herself last November, stealing some of her undergarments and taking photos of her ID and home.
A week after his initial break-in, Williams returned to her home and broke in again.
Hiding in Comeau's basement, Williams intended to wait until she fell asleep to go to her bedroom.
But she ended up making a trip to her basement to look for her cat, which was staring at Williams.
Comeau called Wililams a "bastard" and screamed.
Williams hit her on the head with a flashlight, which caused her head to bleed profusely. He tied her up.
He then went outside to cover his tracks. At the front door of Comeau's home, Williams jammed a key in the lock. He broke the key off to prevent anyone from coming through.
Inside the house, Williams carried Comeau to her bedroom. He repeatedly sexually assaulted her in the hours before her death.
He took photos and videos of his assaults on Comeau, none of which were shown in court.
The Crown said Comeau made repeated pleas for her life, asking Williams to "have a heart please…I've been really good…I want to live."
Williams eventually suffocated her by placing duct tape over her nose and mouth.
Williams then took extensive measures to clean up the scene of the murder, including washing Comeau's bedsheets in bleach.
He fled Comeau's home and drove directly to Ottawa for a meeting about the acquisition of a C-17 military transport plane.
Williams later wrote a letter of condolence to Comeau's father in which he praised Comeau as a "professional, caring and compassionate woman who earned the respect of all with whom she came into contact."
Williams urged the elder Comeau to "please let me know whether there is anything I can do to help you during this very difficult time."
Pattern of escalating behaviour
Earlier Tuesday, the court also heard a description of a prior incident in which Williams sexually assaulted a woman who fell asleep watching TV in September 2009.
The woman woke up when someone hit her on the head with a flashlight, in an attempt to knock her out. It was Williams, who told her she was being robbed.
He tied up the woman and blindfolded her. Then he cut off her top and bra and began taking photos of her.
He indicated that she would not be harmed if she let him take pictures. He also forced her into various poses.
Prior to the start of Tuesday's hearing, Crown prosecutor Lee Burgess said the case was "the most awful" he had dealt with in his 20-year career.
Michael Edelson, the lawyer representing Williams, said the day's proceedings were going to be "another extremely difficult day."
Williams pleads guilty
On Monday, Williams pleaded guilty to murdering two Eastern Ontario women and to sexually assaulting two other women from the same region. Williams also admitted to committing dozens of break-and-enters over the past three years, in which he stole hundreds of undergarments from women who lived in the houses he burglarized.
It was revealed that when Williams broke into houses, he took pictures of himself modeling the underwear he found and often masturbated while doing so.
The women he targeted were generally between their late teens and early 30s, though in at least 12 cases, he stole underwear from the bedrooms of underage women.
Williams stored the stolen underwear at his home and kept detailed records about his thefts on computer hard drives that he hid in his basement ceiling. Crown prosecutors say he took thousands of photos of the undergarments and other items he stole from women in Eastern Ontario.
Williams became known to police on Feb. 4, when they set up a roadblock on Highway 37 between Belleville and Trenton to check SUVs for tires that matched treads found outside Lloyd's home.
When police discovered Williams's tires matched the tread, they began to follow him and arrested him three days later.
Williams confessed to his crimes and led police to both Lloyd's body and computer files and military duffel bags filled with evidence that he stored in the garage of his Ottawa home.
The proceedings will resume Wednesday morning with Williams's confession video and Crown statements. Court will then hear victim impact statements from victims' family members.
With files from The Canadian Press
