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What would you do if police held you in an interrogation room for four hours following the death of your mother and the near death of your father? Most people would have no idea, as they simply can’t fathom what that situation would be like. Although some people may say that they would be calm, collected and keep their wits about them, it may be easier to say than do. Perhaps it is that combination of stressors that led a then-23-year-old Markham woman to lie to police during her interrogation.
The woman initially told police that strangers had broken into their home, killing her mother and nearly killing her father. Later, she recanted and told police that she had hired the men to kill her and had let them into their Markham home. She seemed to have been suffering from depression and highly controlling parents, but was not able to kill herself. Instead of a suicide by proxy, the men killed the wrong person.
The Crown does not believe her and she is facing charges of attempted murder and murder. Though the woman admitted to lying about some of the details of the shooting, she insists that she never hired the men to kill her parents. In a tape of her interrogation, the police officer with which she was speaking made it clear that everyone thought she had contracted for her parents’ death. Her response? She sticks to her story and denies hiring them to kill anyone but her.
Though many people are pointing to her initial lies as indicative of how much she can be trusted, the officer did testify that he was never able to get a confession.
Source: The Toronto Star, “Police video reveals Jennifer Pan’s recanted lies about lethal home invasion,” Rosie DiManno, April 30, 2014
