Now that the disclosure of the evidence is almost complete, the five accused of murder in 2e degree of a 46-year-old man, who occurred on September 11 in Mont-Joli, have requested the holding of a preliminary investigation whose date will be set for January 14 at the Mont-Joli courthouse.
The five accused all appeared by videoconference late Monday afternoon at the Rimouski courthouse.
They expressed their desire to obtain a preliminary investigation. Lawyers received a 3e and last additional proof, last week.
“All that is missing is the expert results to come,” mentioned the Crown prosecutor, Me Frédérique Audet.
The five suspects are charged with murder in 2e degree and carrying a weapon for a dangerous purpose. They have all been detained since their arrest.
The hearing on the release of William Keita will take place on December 9 before the Superior Court at the Rimouski courthouse.
For the four other accused, the bail hearing is postponed, for the sake of form, to January 14 in Mont-Joli.
Appearance by Teams
The five accused appeared by videoconference live from two detention centers, namely Rimouski for William Keita and Rivière-des-Prairies for Bernard-Briand Lewis-Philipps, Zachary Dryden, Patrick Francis and Jerred-Xavier Taylor, who was in Bordeaux until ‘to last week.
Proceedings are being held in English for four of the five accused. William Keita is the only French speaker.
The suspects appeared for the first time on September 12 by videoconference. They had been accused of carrying a weapon for a dangerous purpose.
The police arrested the suspects on Highway 20 a little later on the day of the events, in the Rimouski sector.
Victim linked to Hells Angels
The victim of this murder is André Bourgoin.
The 46-year-old man was identified as a leader of the Hells Angels of the Mont-Joli network during Operation Oursin, led by the Sûreté du Québec in 2019 to counter drug trafficking in Eastern Quebec .
Bourgoin was then sentenced to 54 months in prison.
