Prosecutors seek maximum sentence of 14 years for 62-year-old man guilty of aggravated assault for throwing a 25-pound cast iron dumbbell from a second story directly at the head of an individual standing near the sidewalk .
• Also read: Armed attack in Quebec: a man seriously injured
Michel Patry admitted last July to having thrown the heavy object which shattered the skull of Guillaume Morin on September 27, 2023, on rue des Chênes Ouest, in Quebec.
The most terrible thing in this story is that the victim had never spoken to or even seen her attacker. It was one of his friends, whom he was accompanying at the time, who had a conflict with Patry.
While passing in front of the man’s apartment, which was on his balcony, invectives flew from both sides. Then, Michel Patry would have invited Guillaume Morin’s friend to come up “if he were a man”.
Filed as evidence
Hugues Gingras-Jobin then entered the apartment building. Michel Patry never opened the door, but when he returned outside, he found his best friend with a shattered skull.
“It always comes to my mind to see him lying on the ground, with it in his forehead. I just hear his whisper,” the man confided with emotion during observations on the sentence to be imposed on Patry on Monday.
Maximum penalty
If it was Mr. Gingras-Jobin who testified, it was because Guillaume Morin died in the days following the attack.
The prosecutor in the case said he was found on the floor near his hospital bed 10 minutes after being moved from the trauma room to a room. A fall had reopened his wound and caused complications leading to his death.
Taken from the obituary of Guillaume Morin
“I am not advocating that Mr. Patry caused the death, but in my opinion, we are straddling the line between serious assault and manslaughter. Mr. Morin would never have been in the hospital if he had not received a cast iron dumbbell on his head,” insisted M.e Valérie Bélizaire-Joseph.
The public prosecutor is also demanding the imposition of a maximum sentence of 14 years for the attacker. The latter has already been sentenced to 17 years in prison in 1988 for the involuntary manslaughter of another unknown person.
“Monsieur has a past which was a guarantor of the future which means that we find ourselves before you today,” pleaded the prosecutor, emphasizing the importance for her of recalling that “people are responsible for their choices and their conduct”.
5 to 8 years in defense
In defense, Me Benoît Labrecque suggested a penitentiary sentence of five to eight years.
“What my colleague wants to do is to condemn Mr. Patry for a very tragic and sad event, but which is not the responsibility of my client. It is not Mr. Patry who caused the death of the victim, he is not accused of involuntary homicide,” insisted the defense lawyer.
“We must not make the gentleman pay for more than what he did,” added Me Labrecque.
The 62-year-old accused also spoke, asking for clemency from Judge Pierre L. Rousseau due to the difficult detention climate.
“It’s rock and roll, it’s violent. I suffered violence, received kicks in the face,” said the weight thrower. “It’s hellish, I can’t hear it anymore.”
Judge Rousseau must render his decision next February.
Do you have any information to share with us about this story?
Write to us at or call us directly at 1 800-63SCOOP.
