The mother of an Edmonton woman killed last September says she was blindsided to learn the man accused in her daughter’s homicide has been granted bail.
Collin Boucher-Gionet, 34, charged with second-degree murder and indignity to human remains in the death of his girlfriend Aylissa Rovere, has been granted release on house arrest.
Boucher-Gionet has a criminal history with the courts and was on probation at the time of the alleged killing.
Rovere’s mother, Jodi Dunn, said she can’t fathom why Boucher-Gionet has been granted additional freedoms.
“He’s up for murder and to release someone like him, who has been in trouble before, it’s just another slap on the wrist,” Dunn said. “It doesn’t make sense.”
A release order filed with the Court of King’s Bench on March 7 details the conditions of his release.
With a cash deposit bail of $2,500, Boucher-Gionet will remain on 24-hour house arrest under the supervision of a surety. The conditions bar him from consuming illicit drugs or alcohol, from carrying weapons, and from contacting any of 24 people, including Dunn.
A bail hearing that had been scheduled for the Court of King’s Bench on March 7 was cancelled after the Crown consented to the release conditions.
Dunn said she feels on edge. She had hoped he would remain in the custody of the Edmonton Remand Centre.
“This is going to affect a lot of people’s lives,” she said. “And as far as I’m concerned, there should be an outcry. What is our justice system doing?”
In a statement to CBC, Boucher-Gionet’s lawyer said her client is constitutionally entitled to be presumed innocent and get reasonable bail, regardless of the allegations against him.
“As no one can predict the future, bail is about mitigating risk,” Stacey Purser wrote.
“The two very experienced Crown counsel on the file felt that the conditions we proposed, including house arrest with surety supervision, adequately mitigated any risk to the public.”
The Alberta Crown Prosecution Service has declined to comment specifically on Boucher-Gionet’s release.
Rovere, a 32-year-old mother of two, was last seen on Sept. 6. Her body was found the following week when police searched a home in Parkland County, about 40 kilometres west of downtown Edmonton.
Dunn has said her daughter was trying to leave the relationship.
Boucher-Gionet has been in custody since his arrest on Sept. 17 when he was apprehended in a stolen vehicle after Edmonton police issued a public warrant naming him as the sole suspect in the killing.
Police say the two were in an intimate relationship. Investigators have not released Rovere’s cause of death.
‘The wrong message’
Boucher-Gionet’s release means he can remain out of jail while the case moves through the justice system — a process expected to take months.
He has yet to enter pleas to the charges he faces. A preliminary inquiry — a hearing to determine if the evidence against him is sufficient to proceed to trial — has been scheduled for early September.
Should Boucher-Gionet be ordered to stand trial in the Court of King’s Bench after the preliminary inquiry, he has elected to have his case heard before a judge and jury.
Dunn said she called the Crown’s office repeatedly last week to ask for an update on the case when she learned Boucher-Gionet would be freed within days.
“I should have been notified immediately,” she said. “There was just a lack of communication on their part, which I think that was, you know, a job really poorly done.”
She said Boucher-Gionet’s release sets a troubling precedent for survivors of domestic violence hoping to seek justice and protection from the courts.
“It sends the wrong message.”
BJ Darton, who has guardianship of Boucher-Gionet’s two young children, said the decision to release a person accused of homicide is troubling.
Darton, whose late daughter, Brittany Sagan, was in a relationship with the accused throughout the early 2020s, said she believes his release will undermine faith in the criminal justice system.
“It’s a slap in the face,” she said.
The Crown prosecution service told CBC it would not be appropriate to comment on Boucher-Gionet’s release as his case remains before the courts.
The Crown instead provided a statement detailing the legislation surrounding an accused’s right to release, noting that every accused person has the right “not to be denied reasonable bail” without just cause.
After an arrest is made, an accused is entitled to a bail or “show cause” hearing, regardless of the charges, to determine whether he or she can be released until the trial date, officials with the Crown wrote in an email to CBC.
“If the accused person is able to establish, on a balance of probabilities, that their detention is not justified on any of the grounds enumerated in the Criminal Code, then accused must be released,” the statement said.
“In all bail situations, the Crown and the court must make a decision based on the relevant facts presented at that time.”
When he was arrested in Rovere’s killing, Boucher-Gionet was on probation for threatening to kill Lillian Kuervers, a woman he considered his foster mother, in August 2023.
Kuervers said she is now on edge.
She said she is moving her children out of her home. She has begun packing, and plans to move out of the Edmonton apartment she has called home for more than two years.
Kuervers told CBC she has no faith in court orders to keep her safe.
“All of these no-contact [orders] and everything. It’s just a piece of paper,” she said.
“Our justice system does not protect victims.”