A technician who witnessed the fatal shooting on the night of the 2012 Quebec election testified Wednesday in a lawsuit alleging that Montreal police and the Sûreté du Québec failed to properly secure the event.
Posted at 7:49 p.m.
The trauma of having seen his close friend hit by a bullet tipped his life into the consumption of hard drugs, Jonathan Dubé told the court.
Four workers from the concert hall where the September 4, 2012 shooting took place, are suing the City of Montreal and the Attorney General of Quebec for a total of more than $600,000, alleging they suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological damage as a result of this event.
Shooter Richard Henry Bain was convicted in 2016 of one count of second-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder after the shooting outside a concert hall, formerly named the Metropolis, as the Prime Minister-elect at the time, Pauline Marois, delivered a victory speech.
Lighting technician Denis Blanchette was killed in the attack and a second technician, David Courage, was injured after being hit by the same bullet.
The legal action, which was filed in March 2019, says the plaintiffs experienced “periods of depression and addiction to alcohol and/or drugs and experienced feelings of shame and guilt” resulting from the trauma.
Jonathan Dubé never recovered from the death of his close friend, the lawsuit claims. At the helm, Mr. Dubé spoke of his relapse into the use of hard drugs that occurred following the event, after several years of sobriety.
While he started out on ketamine, he later turned to heroin use, which he described as the “greatest battle of (his) life”.
He had to be hospitalized a few months after his relapse and he has benefited from social assistance most of the time since the Metropolis attack, said Mr. Dubé.
From “jovial” to “hermit”
Later, two of his friends testified that his personality had completely changed as a result of the event.
Audrey Bissonnette, a former neighbor, claimed he went from someone with a huge social circle who liked to attend metal music shows to a “hermit” who kept to himself.
“He was someone bright, jovial, full of life, she said. After the events, he lost it, this light. He no longer had it. »
Jonathan Dubé had seemed “tortured” by the events and had wondered why Denis Blanchette had lost his life when his had been spared, added Mme Bissonette.
The legal action mentions that the plaintiffs were waiting outside the back door of the room to dismantle the stage when Richard Henry Bain approached and fired in their direction.
The shooter, armed with a semi-automatic assault rifle and wearing a bathrobe and balaclava, fired a single bullet before his gun jammed, according to legal documents.
He was arrested after a brief police chase, shouting “The English are waking up! “, while he was under arrest.
The lawsuit says two of the plaintiffs, Audrey Dulong Bérubé and Gaël Ghiringelli, helped carry David Courage into the building after the shooting, while another, Guillaume Parisien, was so close that Denis Blanchette’s body fell on top. him.
The plaintiffs allege that police failed to properly assess the risks associated with the event and that no officers were stationed outside the back gate of the downtown site or in other key areas.
The plaintiffs are seeking $125,000 each, along with several thousand dollars each for therapy and another $100,000 lump sum in punitive damages.
The lawsuit was not filed until several years after the event because it took time for the plaintiffs to process and acknowledge what had happened, according to the court document.