Another Man Sentenced in Maritimes’ Infamous ‘Murder for Lobster’ Trial

Lobster fishing is serious business in Nova Scotia. For many Maritimers, their entire livelihood is based on the industry, which can for the three have-not provinces in a good year. Atlantic lobster seasons are fairly short, heightening the stakes; in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, the season is only about two months long. It shouldn't come as a complete surprise, then, that some are willing to kill over the delicious, profitable crustacean.

net nearly a billion dollars

Today, following his crewmates being found guilty of manslaughter in the infamous "murder for lobster" case, Cape Breton fisherman Craig Landry pleaded guilty as an accessory in the death of a fellow fisherman who they suspected of fucking with their traps. Landry was sentenced to 28 days time served and two years of probation.

So, how and why exactly does a lobster killing go down? According to a statement read in court, a crew aboard a three-person boat named the Twin Maggies on June 1, 2013—halfway through the spring lobster season—spotted a man messing with traps in a harbour in Petit-de-Grat, Nova Scotia. The crew recognized him as Philip Boudreau, a man they had been feuding with for years and suspected of cutting their lobster traps.

Joseph James Landry, a relative of Craig, then shot a rifle four times (this is while he was on a boat, mind you) at 43-year-old Boudreau and hit him at least once in the leg. Following this, they rammed their boat into Boudreau's small speedboat several times until he went overboard. They then proceeded to drag him into the Atlantic on a big fish hook, then finally attached an anchor to him when he stopped struggling. His body has never been found.

Joseph Landry was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 14 years in prison. The boat's captain, Dwayne Matthew Samson, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in May. Samson's wife and Joseph's daughter, Carla, who owned the boat the men were onboard that day, was also facing charges as an accessory in the murder, but had these dropped in June.

Craig, a deckhand aboard the Twin Maggies that day, was initially facing a charge of second-degree murder. The charge was reduced after he helped police with a reenactment of the murder for lobster.

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