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The trial of three men accused of carrying out a drive-by shooting in the Rivière-des-Prairies—Pointe-aux-Trembles borough that killed three men and left another two wounded three years ago began Wednesday morning at the Montreal courthouse.
The jury trial began with all three of the accused — Jonas Castor, Stevenson Choute, 23, and Clifford Domercant-Barosy, 29 — entering not guilty pleas to the six charges they each face. They are charged with three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder and one count of discharging a firearm.
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In her opening statement to the jury, prosecutor Claude Berlinguette-Auger said five people, including a minor, took part in the homicides and that three shooters opened fire from inside a Pontiac Grand Prix and a Mazda.
Twenty-six shots were fired and the bullets struck people both outside and inside an apartment building on Perras Blvd.
Berlinguette-Auger asked the jury to take note that one of the men who acted as a driver is not on trial. She said that is because the man will be a witness for the prosecution during the trial. She also said the minor was charged in “another jurisdiction,” an apparent reference to youth court.
Another piece of evidence the jury will see, the prosecutor said, is video footage recorded by a surveillance camera installed on the front exterior wall of the apartment building near a balcony outside the apartment where victims were shot inside.
“It will be like you are seated on the balcony,” Berlinguette-Auger said, adding the camera recorded the Mazda and Pontiac Grand Prix as it passed by the apartment building and the moment when the shots were fired.
Defence lawyer Patrick Davis, who is representing Castor, slipped up and said “guilty” when a clerk asked him how his client would plead to all six of the charges. Davis caught himself quickly and said his client is pleading “not guilty.”
The drive-by shooting took place on Aug. 2, 2021. The victims were all standing near a building on Perras Blvd., near 53rd Ave.
The men killed in the shooting were Jerry Willer Jean-Baptiste, 29, Jafferson Syla, 29, and Molière Dantes, 63.
After welcoming the jury, Superior Court Justice Alexandre Boucher proceeded to deliver a standard set of instructions to them.
“The accused are on trial together, but you must judge them individually,” the judge said.
This report will be updated.
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