A man charged in Wallaceburg last year with first-degree murder is also facing an outstanding charge of sexual assault in Lambton County from 2021, court records show.
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A 68-year-old Wallaceburg man was charged with murder after officers found a 64-year-old Wallaceburg man dead in an Elgin Street home on Oct. 28, 2023, Chatham-Kent police said at the time. Police did not identify the deceased or the accused, but did say they knew each other and called it an isolated incident.
Court records obtained a couple of days later by the Chatham Daily News revealed Marc Lebelle, 68, is the accused, but the identity of the deceased is covered by a publication ban.
Recently obtained court records in Sarnia, meanwhile, show Lebelle, now 70, was previously arrested on Dec. 23, 2021 and charged with sexual assault in Lambton County. The alleged incident took place on Walpole Island First Nation, about 15 kilometers from Wallaceburg, on Oct. 31, 2021, records say.
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The identity of the complainant in that case is also covered by a publication ban. The charge returns to court in Sarnia on Jan. 7.
The Chatham charge will be back in court there on Feb. 24.
Last fall, Chatham-Kent police added they were called shortly before 2 am to the Elgin Street home for a medical emergency. A man officers found there with an apparent injury later died. Police didn’t offer any additional information.
Some neighbors said they were more surprised than alarmed that a homicide had occurred near their homes.
“It’s really out of the ordinary,” one person said. “I believe it’s an isolated incident.”
“You don’t expect this is such a small community, but it does happen,” another neighbor added.
-with files from Ellwood Shreve, The Chatham Daily News
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