Dave “Pic” Turmel’s alleged right-hand man, Roobens Denis, appeared Friday morning at the Quebec courthouse. The man appeared incoherent the day after his extradition from Portugal, with the judge going so far as to request a psychiatric evaluation.
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The first court appearance of the man who is said to be one of the lieutenants of the Blood Family Mafia took place in two stages on Friday morning.
Marcel Tremblay / Agence QMI
Detained at the Victoria prison and via videoconference, the 31-year-old man first tried with difficulty to make the judge understand who his lawyer could be. Denis became agitated, repeatedly asking to speak to the “Administrative Court” and to a psychiatrist.
Marcel Tremblay / Agence QMI
His remarks were at times difficult to follow, so much so that Judge Rachel Gagnon inquired about the fugitive’s fitness to appear with the police officer accompanying him.
“He gave me the numbers of lawyers that he knew by heart and the steps we took were somewhat successful,” said the agent, acknowledging that “it was more difficult since this morning “.
Orderly assessment
When he returned before the lunch break, Denis, who no longer looked at all like the photos published of him, still did not have a lawyer and his speech had not become clearer.
“I have been telling you for a while to call the Administrative Court,” repeated the prisoner several times, having visibly lost several kilos during his escape and who now has short hair.
Photo provided by the SPVQ
When the judge finally issued the order assessing fitness to appear, Roobens Denis exclaimed “objection!” several times, before being escorted out of camera view by an SPVQ agent.
However, in the preceding minutes, the inmate had clearly expressed that “he could not” remain detained or be transferred to prison. “I can’t stay here. I would like to have probation,” asked the man who would be the right-hand man of “Pic” Turmel, himself still wanted.
Extradited from Portugal
Roobens Denis was arrested in February in Portugal after he had been on the run for several months. His extradition to Canada had been ordered and was finally organized on Thursday.
He arrived in Montreal in the afternoon and was picked up on the tarmac by SPVQ investigators.
Photo The Montreal Journal Pierre-Paul Poulin Vincent Desbiens
He was formally charged Friday morning with two counts of drug trafficking, conspiracy and possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and another count of arms trafficking. The facts with which he is accused date back to 2022.
He will be prohibited during the proceedings from communicating with a list of 11 people, including several co-defendants. Among these is obviously the name of Dave Turmel.
Roobens Denis’ file was postponed until July 4, time to allow the five-day psychiatric evaluation ordered by Judge Gagnon.
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