A Beloeil resident has been acquitted of a manslaughter charge because he acted in self-defense to protect a child when he fatally pushed a 92-year-old senior who had entered his property with his dog, a judge has ruled.
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“The accused asked on at least three occasions to [l’aîné] to leave his ground, but he continued to advance. Considering the size of the dog, that he did not know him, that his master did not seem to have control of him […]he reasonably believed that the dog represented a threat of attack”, explained judge Benoît Gariépy.
Abraham Leblanc shed a few tears and hugged his loved ones when he heard the acquittal verdict this morning at the Saint-Hyacinthe courthouse. He stood trial last May for manslaughter and assault causing bodily harm.
Abraham Leblanc, 39, during the verdict after the trial for manslaughter at the Saint-Hyacinthe courthouse.
Erika Aubin
“It’s definitely a relief,” he briefly told the Log leaving the audience.
Threats to a child
One afternoon in October 2019, Lionel Martineau was walking his dog Wilson as he did every day. Passing in front of Abraham Leblanc’s residence in Beloeil, the 92-year-old man walked on his land with the animal.
Lionel Martineau
Archival photo
Leblanc, who was perched on a stepladder installing his carport, repeatedly asked him to step back. However, the eldest continued to approach. Not knowing the dog, the father saw him as a threat to the 6-year-old playing hockey in his driveway.
He approached the elder and made physical contact to push him away. In trying to leave the lot, Mr. Martineau tripped in the cement strip of the parking lot, fell, then hit his head on the ground.
His condition deteriorated rapidly, then he died within hours.
Abraham Leblanc himself called 911 immediately: “I just pushed him away. He lost his footing, he fell to the ground. He hit himself and he’s bleeding behind his head,” he explained to the dispatcher, while giving advice to the eldest to minimize the risks associated with his condition.
accidental fall
In addition to believing in self-defense, the judge was not convinced beyond any doubt that Leblanc’s gesture caused the loss of balance of Lionel Martineau, who had impaired vision and difficulty moving.
“I cannot exclude that the fall was purely accidental as he turned back,” he said.
The version of the facts of Abraham Leblanc, who used “minimal force”, was corroborated by that of the child. The young boy had been questioned by an investigator immediately after the accident.
The son of Lionel Martineau is for his part disappointed with the verdict: “In our mind, the force of the push was minimized, and it contributed directly to my father’s fall. The dog is a 15-year-old Labrador, not threatening, and my father had control of it, ”dropped Gaston Martineau.
“We take it all in. We will digest all that, ”he continued.
Lionel Martineau
Courtesy picture