“Mr. St-Amand is exceptional considering the brutality of the action he took. He is an exceptional individual for his total absence of empathy, remorse or any kind feeling whatsoever. […] An exceptionally negative individual like him deserves an exceptionally severe sentence,” argued the Crown prosecutor, Me Éric Thériault, who asked the court to impose a sentence of 27 years of imprisonment and to declare the accused a long-term offender. .
Workaholic become inoperative, exhaustion, chronic headaches, stress, insomnia, memory loss, blurred vision, screw in the jaw, numerous operations… The victim’s life will never be the same again. Sylvie Lachapelle explained in detail the consequences she is experiencing due to this violent attack she suffered at the bar of the Central Hotel in Parent.
“January 3, 2020 was my last day of normal life. The old Sylvie died on this date. At first I felt lucky to have survived, but today I sometimes think I would have been better off dead. I no longer have a life,” Sylvie Lachapelle argued in court in writing.
Sylvie Lachapelle (Le Nouvelliste)
The man who accompanied Patrice St-Amand during this evening in January 2020 also made himself heard. Jason Brouillette said that after five years, there was not a single day when he did not think about this event. In a written statement, he claims to still live with guilt and above all incomprehension.
“Why did I accompany the accused on the evening of the events? Why didn’t I jump behind his back to defend Sylvie? Why does he deny the evidence and persist in the procedures?” he always wonders.
“I would have liked him to confess, to admit his wrongs […] His stubbornness scares me,” he continues.
The waitress who was behind the bar during the attack said she also had a strong feeling of guilt. Nathalie Hébert writes that it is a feeling that will never leave her because it was she who asked Sylvie Lachapelle to come to the bar that evening.
“Today, we fear the fact that he will one day be released. Will he follow through on his threats he made in the bar. I saw what he was capable of,” she notes.
Remember that Patrice St-Amand was found guilty in October 2023 of attempted murder of Sylvie Lachapelle. A surveillance video showed Patrice St-Amand giving several series of blows, 21 in total, to the victim who is inert on the ground.
“He struck to kill”
The Crown is seeking a sentence of 27 years in penitentiary and to declare the accused a long-term offender for 10 years. In his pleading, Me Éric Thériault insisted on the violence and the circumstances of the crime. For him, the accused demonstrated such violence that it “comes close to premeditated murder”.
Me Éric Thériault is a criminal and penal prosecutor. (Stéphane Lessard/Le Nouvelliste)
“The shots were precise, the man was hitting to kill,” he insisted.
He noted numerous aggravating factors which he believed should be taken into account in imposing the sentence; the number of blows (21), the brutal force of the blows, the relentlessness to the head, the consequences for the victims and a form of premeditation.
“Monsieur takes breaks, he would have had time to change his mind, he did not do it,” he pleaded.
“He even prevents others from intervening and helping Madame,” he continues.
The criminal and penal prosecutor also highlighted Patrice St-Amand’s history of violence and his narcissistic profile.
“It’s everyone’s fault except him. Everyone is malicious except him, the police, the witnesses… he is not responsible. He has no empathy and no introspection,” he argued.
He also highlighted “to be a good sport” two mitigating factors; his unhappy childhood and his drug addiction.
Me Thériault continued with representations on his request to have Patrice St-Amand declared a long-term offender.
“The sentence serves to punish and the request to protect the public,” he said.
The crown mainly returned to the expert’s report heard by the court the day before which noted a “good number of characteristics” associated with psychopathic offenders, on his significant risk of recidivism in terms of violence and on the absence of “beginning rehabilitation”.
At the start of the day, the Crown had closed its case by filing, among other things, the prison file of Patrice St-Amand detailing around ten breaches; violent language, refusal to comply, damage to property, etc.
The accused still refuses to collaborate
Patrice St-Amand continued to demand legal assistance on numerous occasions during this second day of hearing. Patient, Judge Simon Ricard repeated to him that he had had several opportunities to have a lawyer and that there had been several in the case since the charges were filed. He also reiterated the importance of delivering a sentence within “a reasonable time”.
Patrice St-Amand did not want to present a defense, nor participate in the pleadings, nor even speak to the judge before he took the case under advisement, despite the many pages of notes that he was written during the hearing.
“I plan to talk about it, but not today. […] I will keep my arguments when I go to appeal,” he said.
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