For her role in a violent racist attack in Saint-Roch, a woman was sentenced on Tuesday to 42 months in prison, a sentence aimed at making her take responsibility for the attack, the judge insisted, even if she did not strike a blow.
Despite the fact that it was his accomplice Vincent Tardif who allegedly hit the victim behind the head before thrashing him and slashing his face with a blade, Sabrina Blanchette’s role in the gratuitous attack should not be overlooked, insisted Judge Marie-Claude Gilbert in her judgment on Tuesday.
On a video filmed by the victim’s friends, we hear the accused say “do we cut them? We make them”, speaking of the group of seven tourists of Arab origin whom they had just crossed and insulted on the forecourt of the Saint-Roch church.
Speaking directly to the victim, Blanchette then repeats “I’m cutting you. I’m not afraid to go back inside.
“Free and revolting”
For these actions, the 39-year-old woman pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and death threats.
The 19-year-old victim has had serious consequences from the gratuitous attack, including post-traumatic stress disorder which confined him to his room for three or four months following the attack. The young man has kept a fear of public places and a certain paranoia which are accompanied by flashbacks and nightmares related to the crime.
Physically, the attack left him with a broken bone in the back of his head, a severe concussion, facial lacerations, shattered teeth, broken ribs and pneumothorax.
“His life as a 19-year-old was put on hold for several months,” Judge Gilbert said on Tuesday, calling the attack “gratuitous and revolting.”
Drug trafficking
In her defense, Sabrina Blanchette argued that her substance abuse problems were the cause of the acts she says she regrets. The woman was also convicted on one count of drug trafficking for selling GHB twice to an undercover agent in the months following the July 11 assault. Of the 42 months of the sentence pronounced on Tuesday, 6 months relate to this count.
Blanchette told the court that she was under the influence of GHB and alcohol the night of the attack. She claims that she would never have made such remarks on an empty stomach and says that she is not racist, an explanation that Judge Gilbert describes in her decision as “very unsatisfactory”.
“Despite her regrets, the fact remains that the attack of July 11, 2021 is the result of an impulsive, unpredictable, hateful act perpetrated by a drug addict offender”, explained the magistrate.
Having served 604 days of provisional imprisonment, Sabrina Blanchette will have to spend the next 21 months in detention.
His accomplice in the attack, Vincent Tardif, must return to court on March 6 to set the date for his trial.