“Stuck” in the armed conflict: a skeptical judge imposes 22 months in prison

Man caught with loaded prohibited weapon, saying he was caught in street gang conflict ‘against his will’, was unable to win clemency from judge who gave him 22 months in prison .

It was on May 12 that Serge Duval was arrested by the police in La Baie, while he was driving a vehicle that did not belong to him, without a license.

During a search of the vehicle, the 38-year-old man revealed that he was hiding a loaded firearm under the passenger seat. In total, 21 ammunition, a brass knuckle and 45 grams of cannabis were discovered.

After his arrest, the accused began to cry while mentioning that he was afraid “and that he got a gun, being trapped in the center of the conflict between street gangs against his will “, we can read in the sentencing judgment.

The man also reportedly filed a complaint for threats, kidnapping and sequestration a few days before his arrest. He considered the danger so imminent that he also temporarily sent his children to live with his mother outside the region.

Mistaken identity?

Serge Duval pleaded guilty to possession of a loaded prohibited firearm, possession of a prohibited weapon (brass knuckles) and possession of cannabis.

However, he maintains that he is not linked in any way to organized crime and that the people who attacked him were mistaken.

A similar situation occurred in La Baie last May, when individuals broke into the home of a resident of the 6^e Avenue who had nothing to reproach himself for shooting him.

The defense, which advocated the thesis according to which its client was not linked to organized crime, emphasizing that he had no criminal history, proposed a sentence in the community.

For its part, the Crown was leaning towards a sentence of 30 months in penitentiary, given the seriousness of the charge and the problem of violence linked to firearms which is currently raging in the region.

Behavior to be reported

Unconvinced by the testimony of the accused who “lacked transparency”, judge Michel Boudreault finally sentenced him to 22 months in prison, of which nearly 16 remained when his sentence was handed down in September.

According to him, Serge Duval actually maintained questionable associations, contrary to his claims, as he did not want to tell the real story which led him to arm himself with a weapon.

“The court cannot otherwise conclude that he had made the decision to take the law into his own hands. This type of behavior must be denounced, especially since the accused at the time of the crimes is no longer a child,” said Judge Boudreault.

– With the collaboration of Laurent Lavoie