Homicide victim’s girlfriend describes fight that led to his death in Sud-Ouest
Conor Patrick O’Loughlin’s girlfriend witnessed the fight that led to his death, but did not see who stabbed the 27-year-old outside his apartment in the Sud-Ouest borough.
On Friday, Claudia Oberman testified before a jury at the Montreal courthouse in the trial of Chad and Jayden Pinel, 22 and 19 respectively. The accused are charged with the second-degree murder of O’Loughlin. He was killed sometime around 4:30 a.m. on May 18, 2024, during an altercation with the Pinel brothers.
Earlier this week, the jury saw a video of Chad Pinel’s police interrogation, during which he admitted he and his brother fought with O’Loughlin, but denied he or his sibling had a knife with them. Chad Pinel also told the homicide investigator he had no idea how the victim ended up being stabbed.
Based on evidence heard during the trial, it appears O’Loughlin and the Pinel brothers consumed alcohol in the hours leading up to the fight. The Pinel brothers went to a bar in Old Montreal and then the Montreal Casino with two young women who lived in an apartment just two doors away from O’Loughlin.
The homicide victim went to two bars with friends, who were visiting from British Columbia, before they headed back to his place. Witnesses have said O’Loughlin heard loud music coming from the young women’s apartment and knocked on their door. He had a brief exchange with the brothers and went back to his apartment. Minutes later, the Pinel brothers knocked on his door and the fight broke out.
On Friday, Oberman said she decided not to go out to the bars with O’Loughin and his friends because she had an exam to study for, adding she fell asleep at 11 p.m. and was awoken when the man she described as her “soon-to-be fiancé” arrived at 4 a.m. with his friends.
Oberman said she got out of bed, looked around the apartment and saw one friend playing video games inside O’Loughlin’s office and the other was brushing his teeth.
Oberman said she could hear the sounds of people talking just outside her apartment door and looked through a peephole. She said she could see her boyfriend having a conversation with men she referred to as “black shirt” (Jayden) and “white shirt” (Chad).
“It seemed like a normal conversation anyone would have,” Oberman said, adding this was followed by a few seconds of silence.
“(Then) I heard Conor say say: ‘Do you want to fight?’ After that, I immediately opened the door.”
Oberman said O’Loughlin interacted with “black shirt,” or Jayden, during the fight that broke out. She said “white shirt” (Chad) stood to a side while the other two men fought.
“Conor and black shirt were punching each other in the face,” she said. “When Conor saw me he switched from punching to pushing.
“Once Conor pushed (Jayden) off, he stepped back to the apartment. He walked himself back to the apartment.”
One of O’Loughlin’s friends emerged from the apartment and yelled at Jayden. Meanwhile, Oberman said, her dog Coby also came out and started barking at Jayden.
“Black shirt tried to hit (the dog) with a bottle,” she said. “He tried to hit my dog twice.”
The witness said she tried to get her dog back into the apartment and then looked back toward the Pinel brothers.
“Black shirt and white shirt were talking to two girls,” she said. “I could hear white shirt say to black shirt: ‘We need to go. The cops are coming.’ They looked distressed, worried.”
Prosecutor Philippe Vallières-Roland then asked to describe what Oberman saw next.
“When I went back to my apartment, I saw Conor on the floor,” she said following a long pause. She said one of O’Loughlin’s friends, Liam Doig, was kneeling down next to him and applying pressure to a wound to the abdomen.
She said Doig then pulled back to show her the laceration. Oberman said she has experience in nursing and realized right away the wound was deep, C-shaped and “four or five” inches long.
O’Loughlin’s friends called 911. He was taken to the Montreal General Hospital, where he was declared dead shortly after arrival.
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