New Brunswick Court of Appeal denies bid for appeal of kidnapping conviction

FREDERICTON – A New Brunswick man convicted of kidnapping and holding a woman captive for almost a month has been denied his bid for an appeal.

Romeo Cormier was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 55-year-old woman and holding her against her will in his one-room basement apartment in Moncton in 2010.

He was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Cormier represented himself before the New Brunswick Court of Appeal in Fredericton in April, arguing that his lawyers were incompetent and the trial judge erred in describing the crimes as “horrendous.”

In the Appeal Court decision dated last Thursday, Justice Richard Bell says Cormier’s lawyers performed “admirably in very trying circumstances with a difficult client.”

Bell also said the trial judge described the crimes appropriately.