High school students watch crime scene video at Despres trial

Grade 12 students from Fredericton High School have been sitting in on the trial of Gregory Despres, the New Brunswick man accused of brutally killing his elderly neighbours.

Despres ischarged with first-degree murderin the deaths of his neighbours Fred Fulton and Verna Decarie in their Minto, N.B., home in April 2005. Both were stabbed repeatedly, and Fulton was decapitated.

Nearly a dozen students have been attending the proceeding this week as part of a project they are completing for a law class.

On Tuesday, several of the students viewed a graphic video of the crime scene that was played in court.

In the 12-minute forensic video, the home is shown spattered with blood on the walls and floors.

Fulton's body is seen stretched out on the kitchen floor, dressed only in underwear and with a blanket covering his legs, while Decarie's body is in the bedroom lying beside the bed and covered in blood.

In the kitchen, Fulton's severed head is also revealed stuffed in a pillowcase under the table.

A representative from victim services, with the provincialDepartment of Public Safety,told CBC News that they felt it wasn't appropriate for the young people to watch the video, and that it has been upsetting for the victims' families to have the teenagers there.

The students CBC News spoke with on Thursday were among those whodidn't view the video earlier in the week, but they said they didn't see a problem with doing so.

"I personally feel anyone and everybody should be allowed to witness that and be there, hear about it," Joseph Hardy said. "It concerns society."

"It is disturbing," student Kara Dinkins said. "However, society now days, we are pretty desensitized for all this stuff from all of the crime shows on TV like CSI."

"It's not like you wouldn't turn on the TV and see that stuff, so I am not really disturbed," Dinkins added.

Principal was notified

The studentswere given a choiceof court cases to follow for their project. Nearly the entire class initially chose the Despres trial.

Victim services called the school on Tuesday to notify the principal of the graphic content shown in the courtroom.

The students have since been told they cannot do their project on the Despres case. But they are still allowed to sit through the proceedings.

The students added that their teacher talked to them about the graphic nature of the Despres case.

This is second trial for Despres.

His first trial was halted in February because of his bizarre behaviour in the courtroom. In April, he was declared unfit to stand trial and was ordered to undergo treatment for paranoid schizophrenia.

In July, a provincial review board ruled Despres had responded well to psychiatric treatment, understood the court proceedings and the charges against him, and was fit to stand trial again.

The new trial is being heard by judge alone. It is scheduled to last three weeks.