The three men convicted more than a month ago of carrying out the drive-by shooting in Rivière-des-Prairies that killed three people and left another two wounded three years ago were proud of what they did, said one of the prosecutors in the case on Thursday.
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Prosecutor Claude Berlinguette-Auger highlighted this point while arguing the trio who were convicted by a jury on Nov. 27 should serve maximum life sentences for the two counts of attempted murder. The three men — Jonas Castor, 26, Stevenson Choute, 24, and Clifford Domerçant-Barosy, 29 — were also found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder and were automatically sentenced to life sentences when the jury delivered its decision in November.
On Thursday, Superior Court Justice Alexandre Boucher heard arguments on how much time the men should serve for wounding two people in the shooting and discharging a firearm.
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. They were attending a birthday party at an apartment on Perras Blvd. in Rivière-des-Prairies. During the trial, the jury heard evidence that the killers were seeking revenge for the shooting death of Jesse Dave Chatelier, 26, a man tied to a Montreal street gang who was killed in Montreal early in 2021, several months before the triple murder.
Berlinguette-Auger argued the men merit life sentences for the attempted murders, in part, based on their behaviour after the slayings. She noted how, a couple of months after the shooting, the men shared a video of what happened outside the apartment building over cellphones and sent each other messages joking about it.
The prosecutor also noted how Choute sent four people, including the co-accused, a message on the first anniversary of the murders saying “Happy pop day.”
“He was proud of what he did,” the prosecutor said. “It was disturbing. He found it funny.”
Defence lawyer Christian Gauthier, who represented Choute during the trial, said he disagrees with the Crown’s position that his client has little chance at rehabilitation. He noted that Choute was only 20 years old when the five people were shot and that his client does not have a criminal record. Gauthier said life sentences for attempted murder should only be used in the worst cases and argued for a sentence of between 15 and 19 years.
This report will be updated.