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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 at the Montreal courthouse.
The jury trial began with all three of the accused — Jonas Castor, 26, 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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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.”
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. The drive-by shooting took place on Aug. 2, 2021. Some of the victims were outside an apartment building on Perras Blvd., near 53rd Ave., and others were inside seated near the patio window of a basement apartment.
The people were gathered to celebrate a birthday.
“The atmosphere was friendly. They were having a drink and having a discussion,” the prosecutor said.
The two vehicles passed by just before 7 p.m. and 26 shots were fired. The bullets struck people both outside and inside the basement apartment as well as vehicles parked nearby. The men killed in the shooting were Jerry Willer Jean-Baptiste, 29, Jafferson (Soldier) Syla, 29, and Molière Dantes, 63.
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Jean-Baptiste was one of the victims who was standing outside. He was shot in the back of his skull.
Syla was inside the apartment when a bullet that went through a window struck him in the head. Another bullet that travelled through a window struck Dantes in the chest. The firearms used in the drive-by shooting were never found.
“According to our theory, Mr. Domercant was a shooter, that he was a passenger in the Grand Prix. Our theory is also that Mr. Castor was the driver of the Mazda. The Mazda belonged to his wife,” Berlinguette-Auger said, adding the jury will hear evidence that Castor did surveillance on the apartment in the hours leading up to the shooting.
She said the theory concerning Choute is that he was one of the shooters in the Mazda along with the minor.
Berlinguette-Auger asked the jury to take note that one of the men, who acted as the driver of the Grand Prix, is not on trial. She said that is because the man will be a witness for the prosecution during the trial.
“He is a witness, an important witness. He will tell you the other side of the story. He can give you the point of view of the accused,” the prosecutor said, adding the man has already pleaded guilty to a charge related to the case and is currently incarcerated. “The witness will say there were two meetings held before the shots were fired. He will explain that there were questions concerning the people who were at 9301 Perras (Blvd.). He will explain how, after the two meetings, he was asked to drive by 9301 Perras.”
“This witness will tell you about the before, the present and what happened after,” the prosecutor said, adding the witness will say that he was with Domercant-Barosy the following day when he sold the Pontiac to a scrap dealer for $500.
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 located just above the basement apartment where victims were shot.
“It will be like you are seated on the balcony,” Berlinguette-Auger said, adding the camera recorded the Mazda and Pontiac Grand Prix as they passed by the apartment building and the moment when the shots were fired.
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