by Meghan Hurley and Andrew Seymour
Ottawa Citizen
OTTAWA — The drug dealer charged with first-degree murder in the death of an Ottawa sex worker wasn’t a suspect in the case until he approached guards at the jail where he was doing time and asked to speak to a homicide detective.
“It’s extremely rare,” said Insp. John Maxwell of Ottawa police. “I don’t think I’ve seen this before.”
Adrian Daou, 22, was “calm and collected” before appearing in court to face a charge for the August 2010 killing of Jennifer Stewart, his lawyer said Wednesday.
An unshaven Daou surveyed the courtroom before giving a justice of the peace his name during the brief appearance. Wearing a dark green winter coat, baggy black jeans, Doc Martens-style boots and leg shackles, Daou stood with his hands at his side and his head tilted back before being remanded to jail.
Daou nodded when Justice of Peace Linda Pearson told him not to communicate with three people, including one of Stewart’s relatives. He will next appear in court by video from jail on March 7.
“He’s calm and collected. We’ll deal with the charge. He’s fine,” said lawyer Bob Carew outside court.
Carew wouldn’t comment when asked about whether the twice-convicted drug dealer, who is currently serving a nine-month jail sentence for possession for the purpose of trafficking and failing to appear in court, had confessed to the killing to police.
Carew said Daou had contacted him for legal advice Tuesday.
“How co-operative has he been with police?” Carew was asked.
“You’ll have to ask police,” replied Carew.
However, police sources say Daou gave a full confession, including details that only investigators knew, and offered police information that filled in some blanks in the investigation.
Daou told police he came to them with his confession because he had a guilty conscience.
He was charged with first-degree murder after police consulted with a Crown attorney.
None of Daou’s family members were in court for his appearance, although a small group of his friends were present. There did not appear to be any relatives of Stewart present.
Stewart, 36, was found lying face-up in the dirt in a Vanier parking lot in August 2010. She had been stabbed in the head, legs and wrists.
At the time, her aunt told the Citizen that Stewart had turned to prostitution to feed her crack addiction, but denied her addiction to her family.
“We offered help and she pushed us away,” Nicole Chenier said in 2010. “She didn’t want help. She looked me in the eye and lied about her addiction.”
Stewart had been convicted of prostitution-related offences four times.
Daou was sentenced two weeks ago to eight months in jail after pleading guilty to two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking. He received an additional 30 days for failing to appear in court and breaching his release conditions. He was ordered to provide a sample of his DNA and was banned from possessing weapons for life.
The drug-dealing occurred in January 2012.
In March 2012, he had been sentenced to 15 days in jail in Kingston for a theft under $5,000, according to court records. He also had a 2010 conviction — just two months after Stewart’s killing — for drug trafficking in Kingston. He avoided jail by receiving a nine-month conditional sentence to be served in the community.
The charge against Daou comes three weeks after another man was charged with first-degree murder in two of Ottawa’s other unsolved prostitute killings.
On Feb. 6, Marc Leduc, 56, was charged in the 2011 killing of Leeanne Lawson, 23, and the 2008 killing of Pamela Kosmack, 39. (Kosmack’s family maintains she was not a sex worker.)
It’s been 14 months since then-Ottawa police chief Vern White called a press conference to talk about a “pattern” that investigators had identified in the killings of city sex-workers.
The charges against Leduc, who was linked to the deaths through DNA, were the first major break in those cases.
There are three other unsolved sex-worker killings in Ottawa and another in Gatineau.
Melinda Sheppit, 16, was found partially clothed in a Dumpster in a Murray Street parking lot on Sept. 30, 1990. She had been strangled and was missing a shoe.
Sophie Filion, 23, was only wearing a slip when she was found stuffed into two garbage bags in a Westboro parking lot on Dec. 3, 1993. She died from strangulation.
Carrie Doloris Mancuso, 32, was found dead in her Lafontaine Avenue apartment on Sept. 7, 1995. She was killed by asphyxiation, but it’s unclear if she had been strangled.
Kelly Morrisseau, 27, was found naked and bleeding from at least 12 stab wounds in a parking lot near Gatineau Park in 2006. Morrisseau died in hospital. She was pregnant.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Ottawa Police Major Crime Section at 613-236-1222 ext. 5493 or Crime Stoppers at 613-233-8477.
With files from Gary Dimmock