Ian Bush guilty in triple murder

Ian Bush has been found guilty of murdering three Ottawa seniors nearly a decade ago.

The jury found Bush, 62, guilty of three counts of first-degree murder in the gruesome deaths of court judge Alban Garon, his wife Raymonde Garon, and their neighbor Marie-Claire Beniskos.

The three seniors, all of them in their 70s, were found beaten, bound and gagged in the Garons’ Ottawa condo in June, 2007.The case turned cold until DNA evidence led police to lay murder charges against Bush in 2015. Bush had pleaded not guilty to the crimes. He has been sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 25 years.

“Even after being convicted of perhaps the most horrific crimes you can imagine, the senseless murder of elderly citizens in their own home, an in horrific fashion, he was grinning as he walked out of the courtroom,” crown attorney James Cavanagh said of Bush outside the courthouse in Ottawa.  “And I think that is maybe the best way of evaluating what Ian Bush is.”

Bush is also facing multiple charges for allegedly restraining, beating and robbing a 101-year-old World War II veteran in Ottawa in Dec. 2014. Ernest Cote, Bush’s alleged victim, passed away in Feb. 2015. The case, which was not mentioned in court in order to assure Bush of a fair trial, will be heard this fall.