Warning: This story contains details readers may find disturbing
THUNDER BAY – Suzanne Hackworth, who made the 911 call from inside a Victoria Avenue residence shortly after Courtney LaBelle allegedly stabbed her 11-year-old son 31 times, frantically tried to explain the panic and confusion of the situation that was still unfolding right before her eyes.
“Please hurry,” she told the 911 dispatcher. “He’s not responsive at all. He has very shallow breathing. Please hurry [. . .] Hurry up. There’s blood everywhere.”
The 911 call was played for the jury during day two of the second-degree murder trial against LaBelle, who is accused in the stabbing death of her 11-year-old son. She has pleaded not guilty to the count of second-degree murder and one count of aggravated assault. There is a publication ban protecting the victim’s name.
Hackworth was called to testify by the Crown on Wednesday. She is the partner of Eugene LaBelle, Courtney LaBelle’s father.
Eugene LaBelle testified on Tuesday that he and Hackworth were staying at his youngest daughter’s residence on Victoria Avenue West the night of Dec. 31, 2020 along with Courtney LaBelle’s two children.
According to Eugene LaBelle, Courtney arrived in the early morning hours of Jan. 1 and he returned to the bedroom where Hackworth was sleeping. He was awakened a short time later by a sound in the living room and saw Courtney LaBelle standing over her son with a knife and making a stabbing motion downward.
He was able to tackle her to the ground and restrain her, while calling to Hackworth to dial 911.
“He yells out to me call 911: she’s stabbed him, she stabbed [the victim],” Hackworth testified. “So I grab my phone and I’m dialing as I leave the bedroom and go to the living room. I see [the victim] on the floor covered in blood. And Eugene is holding Courtney in the corner of the room. And then I talked to the dispatcher and told them what was happening.”
According to Hackworth, Courtney LaBelle was screaming at her father to let her go and swearing, making it difficult for her to communicate with the 911 dispatcher and paramedic on the phone.
“I couldn’t do anything because they kept making me go to the kitchen so they could hear me,” she said.
During the 911 call, the paramedic asked Hackworth if the victim was breathing, preparing to instruct her through CPR if he was not. Hackworth said he was breathing but his breath was very shallow and he was wheezing.
The paramedic asked Hackworth how old the victim was, to which she incorrectly replied that he was 10 years old.
According to Hackworth, Courtney LaBelle then started yelling at her that the victim was 11 years old.
“I was mainly focused on what the dispatcher was trying to say to me,” Hackworth said. “It was really hard to hear what she was saying to me because Courtney was yelling.”
The difficult communication between Hackworth and the 911 dispatcher could be heard in the recording and at one point, Hackworth said: “The mom is being restrained and she’s just going bonkers [. . .] I can’t even hear you because of that crazy woman.”
During cross-examination by defense counsel Gil Labine, Hackworth was asked about her descriptions of LaBelle as ‘going bonkers’ and as a ‘crazy woman.’
“I never experienced anything like that,” she said. “And to me children are a blessing. You don’t do things like that.”
“None of us are an expert,” Labine said after asking Hackworth if she would describe LaBelle as acting crazy, to which she said she was not an expert.
“But I wanted to confirm that that was your first impression, the first observation you made of Courtney Labelle.”
“That’s what I said,” Hackworth replied.
Hackworth was also asked about LaBelle’s drug use and if she believed she had a drug addiction.
“A problem with, maybe,” she said. “Like I say, I didn’t take any training with addiction. So I can’t say with any surety what it is.”
Labine concluded his questioning by asking Hackworth if LaBelle ever indicated that she knew who else was in the room that morning, including her father Eugene LaBelle, or her.
“No, all she yelled was he’s 11, he’s 11,” Hackworth said. “That’s the only thing she said to me.”
“That’s only because you used [the victim’s] name in the 911 call? You used his name?” Labine asked.
“Yes,” Hackworth said.
Courtney LaBelle’s brother, Arnold LaBelle, also testified on Wednesday, detailing the night of Dec. 31, 2020 when he, Courtney, and their sister were at their late mother’s residence packing up her belongings.
According to his testimony, Courtney LaBelle consumed two cans of beer and also expressed an interest in getting drugs.
The evening was described as both calm, but also with several disputes breaking out between the siblings.
After he and Courtney LaBelle left their mother’s residence, they went to his friend’s house. Arnold LaBelle described her as being upset but he did not know why. She left only 10 to 15 minutes later, but Arnold LaBelle said he did not know where she was going.
Several officers with the Thunder Bay Police Service who responded to the 911 call at Victoria Avenue the morning of Jan. 1, 2020 were also called to testify on Wednesday.
The officers were responsible for transporting LaBelle to the Balmoral Street Police headquarters and processing her in the booking room.
During transportation, one officer said LaBelle uttered: ‘kill me’ and attempted to choke herself with the chain of the handcuffs.
She was also described as uncooperative and unresponsive, did not react to her counsel rights being read to her, and made a moaning sound while being transported.
The jury also viewed a surveillance video from the booking room at the Thunder Bay Police Service headquarters where LaBelle was taken. She had blood like straining on the front and back of her clothes and hands.
Throughout the video, LaBelle is seen being held up by two officers, refusing to stand, flailing her arms and legs, and screaming and moaning for several minutes straight.
Const. Kyle McLeod, who was present in the booking room holding up LaBelle, testified that he heard her say: "Now you are going to lock me up forever."
Labine asked McLeod during cross-examination if he also heard LaBelle say: "I didn’t do this."
“I heard ‘I didn’t do this,’ Labine said.
“I heard ‘I can’t do this. You are going to lock me up forever,’” McLeod replied.
“I heard ‘I didn’t do this,’” Labine said again.
“That is your recollection of what you just heard,” McLeod said.
Labine then asked McLeod if he’s ever encountered someone experiencing drug-induced psychosis throughout the course of his duties as a police officer, to which McLeod replied not that he was aware of.
Testimony in the trial will continue on Thursday.
