By GREG SMITH
Norwich Bulletin
Posted Dec 11, 2009 @ 02:16 PM
Last update Dec 11, 2009 @ 03:28 PM
A judge in Danielson today sentenced a Plainfield man to 50 years in prison for brutally stabbing to death his former girlfriend with her two young children present.
Roger A. Fenner, 47, was sentenced on the charge of murder and risk of injury to a minor in the Jan. 12, 2007 death of 46-year-old Laurie A. Courtemarche.
Windham County State’s Attorney Patricia Froehlich said the murder was a heinous crime made worse by the fact it was committed with Courtemarche’s nine-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter, along with a friend, at home when it was committed. Froehlich had fought for a 60-year sentence.
“They were there when Roger Fenner killed their mother. They live today with the memory of that murder. They will live with that memory forever,” Froehlich said.
It was shortly before 4 a.m. when the children at Laurie Courtemarche’s Moosup home were awoken by the sound of shattering glass and screaming from the bedroom where Laurie was sleeping with her son.
Fenner had waited for hours outside the home before breaking in and using a hunting knife to stab Courtemarche where she lay in bed, Froehlich said. An autopsy revealed Courtemarche sustained 26 stab wounds and cutting injuries to the face, neck and breasts. She also had defensive cuts to her hands.
Courtemarche’s children, Dylan and Cassandra, together spoke before Judge Antonio Robaina in an emotional courtroom filled with family.
“When I sleep I hear my mom scream,” Dylan said through tears. “Then I wake to that terrible image of her getting stabbed. When I’m trying to sleep, I think I’m going to get murdered just like my mom, and my aunt and uncle have to tuck me in for about a half an hour every night. I have to have my window closed and locked every night.”
Cassandra Courtemarche, now 14, likened the experience to a horror movie come to life.
“My scary movie started when I was 11, with the sound of a window shattering, my mom screaming and the terrified look on my brother, my friend and my own face when I call 911,” Cassandra said. “I had to enter my teenage years, the time when a girl needs her mother the most, without one.”
Fenner, who also spoke in court, said he was diagnosed as bipolar since his arrest. He admitted to his crime, but said it is not who he is.
“I know you hate every inch of my being. I hate myself,” Fenner said. “I won’t sit here and ask for your forgiveness because I don’t deserve it.”
The 50-year sentence was the most allowed under terms of a plea agreement.
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