A Montrealer who was accused of brutally killing his wife 20 years ago in order to access his life insurance should indeed be acquitted, Quebec’s highest court has just confirmed.
• Also read: More than 20 years after the murder of his wife: the prosecution maintains that it was Fera who killed her
• Also read: Ernesto Fera acquitted of murder of his wife in 2004
• Also read: The investigation was too botched, according to Fera’s lawyer
“In light of the evidence heard, the judge [de première instance] could conclude that it was improbable that Ernesto Fera committed the crime,” asserts Judge Guy Cournoyer, supported by his two other colleagues who heard the case on appeal.
Fera, 58, was able to breathe a sigh of relief, given that a life sentence had been hanging over his nose since 2019, when he was charged with the first-degree murder of his wife in February. 2004.
Nadia Panarello, 38, was then killed with around thirty stab wounds in the family residence in Laval. It was the victim’s mother who discovered the bloody body in the bathroom on the 2nd floor.
Nadia Panarello. Victims
Courtesy photo
To the Crown, this was murder, and Fera should be held responsible. According to her, Fera had the “exclusive opportunity” to commit the crime. And he possibly had a financial motive, since the couple’s financial situation was precarious at the time.
“After the murder of Ms. Panarello, Mr. Fera’s financial situation changed significantly. The mortgage life insurance policy taken out by the couple allows the full repayment of the mortgage on the family home,” we can read in the judgment of the Court of Appeal.
Ernesto Fera, accompanied by his lawyers, Me Isabelle Lamarche and Me Joseph La Leggia, during his trial at the Saint-Jérôme courthouse.
Photo Jonathan Tremblay
Mobiles rejected
Except that Judge James Brunton, after carefully analyzing the evidence, determined that there was “a reasonable possibility of believing that an unknown third party would have entered through the unlocked backyard patio door.” The magistrate had also criticized the investigators at the time, who had neither questioned all the relevant witnesses nor even seized the potential murder weapon.
The residence where Nadia Panarello was found dead in 2004.
Photo d’archives
As for the financial motive, the judge rejected it, noting that there was nothing to prove that Fera was aware that he was the beneficiary of the life insurance of his wife’s employer.
“It makes no sense that a man who was in an ordinary, loving marriage, when there is no evidence of discord, would suddenly viciously kill his wife,” the judge argued.
Unless the Crown attempts to bring the case to the Supreme Court, Fera, who is defended by Messrs Joseph La Leggia, Isabelle Lamarche and Mylène Lareau, no longer has to worry about justice.
