Dramatic twist at the trial of a couple from Saint-Sauveur accused of having kidnapped a teenager after a banal “sonne decrisse” joke: Claude Bourgie and Mariama Diaby will have to undergo a second trial, since the jury failed to agree on half of the charges. However, they were partly acquitted.
Posted at 11:12 a.m.
The jury was unable to reach a decision on three of the six counts, a rather unusual situation. “We are still at an impasse,” Judge Gregory Moore explained Wednesday morning. Claude Bourgie, 65, was accused of kidnapping, forcible confinement, death threats and assault. His partner, Mariama Diaby, 53, was facing charges of kidnapping and assault.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Mariam Diaby
The 65-year-old man was acquitted of charges of assaulting a teenager and threatening to kill. His wife was also found not guilty of the charge of kidnapping.
The 12 jurors must be unanimous to render a verdict. This impasse therefore means that there was not unanimity regarding certain charges. To render a guilty verdict, they must be persuaded beyond a reasonable doubt.
The jury was unable to agree on the assault charges against Ms.me Diaby and those of assault on another young person and kidnapping concerning Mr. Bourgie. A second trial will therefore take place next year for these three charges only.
According to the Crown’s theory, four teenagers knocked on the door of the Bourgie-Diaby couple on August 16, 2021, in Saint-Sauveur. The accused then allegedly chased them behind the wheel of his Porsche, forcibly dragged one of the young people into his garage and tied him up with a rope, with the help of a third person. The 14-year-old victim was part of a group of young people who knocked on the door of the home of the two accused. The teenagers then ran away. A game commonly called “sonne decrisse” in popular jargon.
“A simple joke,” described the Crown prosecutor, Ms.e Jennifer Lepage, in her opening statement at the trial of Claude Bourgie and Mariama Diaby last November.
“We are here because of the disproportionate reactions and gestures motivated by revenge,” explained M.e Lepage, who teams up with Me Éric Bernier. The suspects were “unable to control their emotions”, according to the prosecutor.
The jury finally decided in favor of the couple, defended by Me Marc Labelle and Me Claudia Doyle.
“To the thief, to the thief!” »
The lawyers of Claude Bourgie and Mariama Diaby had mentioned self-defense during this five-week trial. The couple had just returned from a long trip to Africa on “sonne decrisse” day.
Claude Bourgie, a man with no history or criminal record, believed he was dealing with a group of uncooperative thieves, the accused asserted during his testimony. His partner supported this argument when she addressed the jury.
PHOTO FILED AS PROOF
It is in this garage that the teenager was allegedly kidnapped and tied up by the accused.
Mr. Bourgie had detailed his hospitalization in Guinea and his failing state of health. He added that during his trip, a group had entered his courtyard in Saint-Sauveur without his knowledge. People were surprised by a neighbor partying in his swimming pool.
The couple had therefore assumed that the young people who had made the “sounding down” joke were among those who had broken into their home a few weeks earlier while they were away.
“I shouted thief, thief,” Mr. Bourgie recalled.
Mme Diaby said he was unaware that a teenager was tied up in his garage. Instead, she claimed that some young people seemed to want to attack her. “My father will destroy you,” one of them would have said, in addition to uttering racist remarks, according to his version of the facts.
