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Laval teenager gets three-year sentence for killing his former close friend

The youth's father said during the sentencing hearing that, since the day of the stabbing, his "family's life has stopped"

Police markings outline the bloodstains left behind by a stabbing on Jan. 1, 2020, in a parking lot adjacent to Parc Marc-Aurèle-Fortin in Laval.
Police markings outline the bloodstains left behind by a stabbing on Jan. 1, 2020, in a parking lot adjacent to Parc Marc-Aurèle-Fortin in Laval. Photo by Allen McInnis /Montreal Gazette

The Laval teenager who killed his close friend more than two years ago after they argued for days through text messages received a three-year sentence, including 26 months in detention.

Superior Court Justice Catherine Perreault delivered the sentence at the Laval courthouse on Monday after finding the youth guilty of manslaughter, armed assault and carrying a weapon for a dangerous purpose this year.

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The youth’s defence lawyer had asked for a 27-month sentence and that only nine months of it be spent in detention. The Crown asked that the youth, whose name cannot be published, serve at least 30 months in youth detention.

“The period (in youth detention) will be necessary for him to work on his readaptation,” Perreault said in her decision.

The youth is 19. He was 16 on Jan. 1, 2020, when he stabbed his longtime 15-year-old friend in the parking lot of a school next to Marc-Aurèle Fortin Park in Laval. The victim’s brother was also in the parking lot, along with a couple of other friends. Evidence presented at trial revealed all the teens who were present were expecting a fight to break out and the teenager who was convicted of manslaughter brought two knives with him. The two brothers confronted the 16-year-old and grabbed him before he pulled out at least one of the knives.

During the trial, the youth testified in his defence. He said he could not recall having stabbed his friend.

The conflict between the three adolescents began in December 2019 while the teenagers were off school for the holidays. While playing video games online, the teens communicated with each other through an app. One of the brothers made a vulgar remark about a girl the then-16-year-old boy liked. The 16-year-old would not let the insult go and he and the brothers exchanged text messages for days insulting each other. The exchanges culminated in the 16-year-old being invited to the parking lot.

Before the conflict, the youth and the brothers had been very close friends from a young age and often slept over at each other’s homes.

The youth’s father testified during the sentencing hearing that, since the day of the stabbing, his “family’s life has stopped” and that every decision he and his wife have made since then was centred on their son.

“As for (his mother), she feels that her son has already been sentenced. For her, since 2020, he has lived through difficult moments, doesn’t sleep and worries all the time,” the judge said.

The judge also factored in a series of reports from experts who evaluated the youth and found him to be a low risk of reoffending.

“The reports from the experts were based almost exclusively on their meetings with (the convicted killer) and his parents,” the judge said, noting they “presented the best portrait of him that they could instead of a complete one.”

“The second common element in the reports is that (he) faces a challenge after he leaves his period of detention and finds himself all alone when he is freed. The experts agree he should benefit from the support that can come with a release with conditions that will help him as he is reinserted into society.”

pcherry@postmedia.com

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