A murder trial in Sudbury has come to an end with the jury reaching a guilty verdict late Tuesday afternoon.
Details of a gruesome murder came out over the past three weeks of the killing of a man that family and friends say was a gentle person who would never hurt anyone.
51-year-old Marcel Couillard was found in a pool of blood.
A post-mortem examination revealed he died of blunt force trauma to the head and 11 stab wounds, one about 10 inches from his waistline to his chest.
Hearing the guilty verdict, the victim's family and friends cried and say they are painfully relieved.
"It was very difficult for us to hear, very, very difficult. Emotions came back from three years ago and we had to relive this nightmare over and over, but today, we finally got our justice." said Ronald Couillard, the victim's brother.
The man found guilty by the jury, 25-year-old Reginald Berard, admitted to police that he heard voices the day he beat and stabbed the victim. He says the two got into a heated argument and he lost his cool.
"It was brutal, brutal." said assistant Crown attorney Kevin Ludgate.
Berard did not take the stand during the trial.
The minimum sentence for a second-degree murder conviction is 10 years.
