All three of the men who were on trial in a case in which they were charged with three murders carried out in Rivière-des-Prairies three years ago were declared guilty by a jury on Wednesday.
After deliberating for several days, the jury at the Montreal courthouse found all three men guilty of three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and one count of discharging a firearm with the intent to cause bodily harm.
The jury’s foreman took the time to repeat each charge that was read to him by a clerk in full before saying “guilty” to all of the charges the trio faced. The men convicted in the case are Jonas Castor, 26, Stevenson Choute, 23, and Clifford Domerçant-Barosy, 29.
The men who were killed in the drive-by shooting on the evening of Aug. 2, 2021, were Jerry Willer Jean-Baptiste, 29, Jafferson (Soldier) Syla, 29, and Molière Dantes, 63.
When the trial opened, the Crown said the victims targeted in the shooting were gathered inside and outside an apartment on Perras Blvd. to celebrate a birthday when two cars sped by. Shots were fired from both of the vehicles. The drive-by shooting was recorded by a surveillance camera outside the apartment building.
One of the drivers testified as a prosecution witness in the trial. He is currently serving a 10-year sentence for his role in what happened.
Domerçant-Barosy testified in his defence and claimed he did not go to the apartment with the intention to kill anyone. He said someone he sold cannabis to asked him to scare people at the apartment and that he opened fire when he heard shots fired toward him. Apparently the jury did not believe a word of this.
The jury also heard evidence that the three men on trial carried out the drive-by shooting as revenge for the death of a street gang member who was killed in Montreal months earlier.
Superior Court Justice Alexandre Boucher agreed to hear sentencing arguments in January. While the three men automatically received life sentences for the first-degree murder convictions — with no chance at full parole until they have served 25 years behind bars — they have to be sentenced on the other offences they were convicted of.
This story will be updated.