A young man who had disguised himself as a clown for a violent break -in introduction which led to the kidnapping of a pregnant woman in Laval has just received eight years of penitentiary.
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One evening in January 2022, Othmane Balazi and three accomplices had targeted a residence on rue Clémence, in Laval, where a pregnant woman of a few weeks and her spouse, who had an interest in cryptocurrency, lived.
A conflict in connection with this digital currency would also be the backdrop of this affair, had reported The newspaper.
Shortly after 8 p.m., four suspects wearing clowns or hoods smashed the door of the house, falling face to face with the man they intended to attack.
Photo Agence QMI, Pascal Girard
In the wardrobe
A fight broke out with each other. The other occupant of the premises had taken refuge in a wardrobe to compose 9-1-1.
“One of the suspects [la] Located in the wardrobe, tears off her phone, asking her with whom she speaks by shouting on her, ”explains a summary of the case filed in court.
As for his spouse, he was threatened and rehearsed with a gun. The bandits tried to drag him into an SUV to kidnap him, to no avail.
“Seeing the altercation, another suspect returns to him, and shines a firearm on him. He fires in his direction, while he is less than 3 meters away […] But does not reach it, ”describes a court document.
A caliber socket .40 was later found by the police on the roof of a shed.
The house where crime took place in Laval in January 2022. We can see a vehicle deployed by the Laval police.
Photo Agence QMI, Pascal Girard
The attackers nevertheless managed to force the pregnant woman on the rear bank of their vehicle.
-It took barely forty minutes for the police to locate the victim, ten kilometers further north, in Boisbriand.
Terrified, the latter was very grateful to the police who came to her rescue, it had been reported at the time.
Encrypted application
Balazi had pleaded guilty of break -in, kidnapping and having participated in the discharge of a firearm.
“I have nothing to say,” said Othmane Balazi, in the accused box, at the Laval courthouse on Friday.
Judge Marc-André Dagenais had offered him to speak after ratifying his long sentence of detention.
According to the proof, the DNA of the 28-year-old was found in a black-hair clown mask, in a bullet-proof jacket and a work glove.
The Laval police, at the scene of the assault.
Pascal Girard/AGENCE QMI
Balazi had also taken part in a conversation called “$ 5 million”, on an encrypted application.
Through the messages, Balazi and other accomplices had planned an appointment in the parking lot of a Laval building, a few hours before the assault.
Their presence was immortalized by surveillance cameras, indicates a document deposited in court. In total, five individuals face justice for their involvement in this case.
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