Extortion attempts in Dollard-des-Ormeaux: neighbors still worried despite four arrests

Despite the arrest of four suspects in an extortion case that led to shootings and arson in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, concern and mistrust persist among the victims’ neighbors.

“Yes, it’s good, but it’s not enough. We want them to arrest the people who shot at a house and set cars on fire,” insisted a neighbor living on Louis-Riel Street, near the house targeted by gunfire last week.

Three cars were also set on fire on November 30 and December 1 and a second incident involving a firearm occurred on December 15.

Arrests

Four men from Greater Montreal were arrested by the City of Montreal Police Service (SPVM) in connection with these events.

Sugirthan Sivanesan, 35, Mahinthan Sivalingam, 40, Jesinthan Sivalingam, 43, and Julian Antony Theranson, 37, and appeared this week at the Courthouse. The first three have criminal backgrounds in Quebec.

All four face charges of extortion by threats against a person to obtain money from them.

They are also accused of threatening to burn, damage or destroy the property of others.

Jesinthan Sivalingam is the only one to also face accusations of harassment against a person to the point where they had reason to fear for their safety or that of their loved ones.

After a few days in detention, they were able to regain their provisional freedom, awaiting their trial, subject to compliance with a series of conditions.

The residents of the house targeted by the extortion attempts for which the suspects are accused have reason to believe for their safety, which is why Le Journal avoids identifying them.

A distrust that persists

Despite this, “the neighborhood is not reassured” added another neighbor, who deplores that the person who fired shots on their residential street is still running.

The neighbor, a mother, continues to fear for her safety and that of these children and remains worried about the behavior of her neighbors targeted by the extortion threats.

“There’s a lot of traffic around this house,” she explains. “They have no place in this neighborhood, and I was nice to them at first, but it went too far,” she insists, admitting to doubting the innocence of her neighbors.

She really hopes that the people targeted, new to this usually quiet street, will leave the neighborhood, testifying to a tension and animosity that continues on rue Louis-Riel, even if nothing indicates at the moment that the victims in this matter have nothing to reproach them with.