Ten years after the Metropolis attack, Gaël Ghiringhelli is still not angry that no policeman was present to block the path of Richard Henry Bain. “We served as a human shield! “, fulminates the ex-stage technician. Haunted by the gaze of his injured colleague and inhabited by rage, the survivor still experiences an ordeal.
Posted at 4:36 p.m.
“How can I estimate all that I have lost? I lost 10 years of my life… I was forced to leave Quebec, because I have nothing left. I am suffering ! And I’m tired of suffering! I’m fed up ! I wanted to integrate into Quebec, crown like everyone else! vociferates Gaël Ghiringhelli, his voice suddenly breaking with emotion.
He testified by videoconference from his native France on Thursday on the third day of the civil trial of the survivors of the Metropolis attack. Four stage technicians are suing the Sûreté du Québec and the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal for damages suffered due to poor security on the night of Pauline Marois’ election, September 4, 2012. They are each claiming $125,000 , plus $100,000 in punitive damages.
A little before midnight, there are a dozen technicians huddled together on the stairs of the artists’ entrance outside the Metropolis. Their shift should start in a few minutes. Suddenly, Gaël Ghiringhelli hears a “big bang”, but first believes it is a police stun grenade.
His friend Dave Courage then falls next to him. Gaël Ghiringhelli drags him inside with Audrey Dulong-Bérubé. Then he rushes to retrieve some “brown paper” to soak up his friend’s profuse bleeding. “Dave is a little delirious. I sponge. We are waiting for first aid. Everyone is screaming, it’s unbearable, ”he says in a nutshell.
At his friend’s bedside, an image marked Gaël Ghiringhelli forever. “I will never forget that look. A look that asks me: “am I going to get out of this, man”. I’ll never forget…”, loose Gaël Ghiringhelli, his voice broken. Dave Courage was then seriously injured, hit in the hip by the bullet that had just killed Denis Blanchette.
After giving his statement to the police after a sleepless night, an investigator ordered him not to tell anyone about the events. “I perceived that as a threat. I came home, haggard,” he said.
“To be told, shut your mouth, it hurts! he sobbed. “I’ve never had any help…”, he blurts out. After the events, the Groupe Spectra organized a group meeting with a psychologist, but this specialist in matrimonial affairs was not relevant, according to the witness.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
At the trial of Richard Henry Bain in 2016, survivors Dave Courage, Jonathan Dubé, Audrey Dulong and Gael Ghiringhelli. The last three are suing the SPVM and the SQ.
“How can this happen on election night? »
If he did not fall into the hell of drugs like some survivors of the attack, Gaël Ghiringhelli remained accustomed to a permanent fury. “It generated anger every day. I have become someone execrable, ”he sums up. A rage that led him to “serious” suicidal desires three years later.
Each time, this question came over him: how could Richard Henry Bain approach “so easily”? “If there had been a single uniformed policeman visible! How can this happen on election night? There were more police when Celine Dion and Prince came! “, he gets carried away.
“Bain came quietly!” He took the time… nine seconds to shoulder his rifle. He fires a shot, he plays with his weapon. Everyone is running. That’s what happened,” he said.
Gaël Ghiringhelli recalls that a “seasoned shooter” would have had a “direct view” of Prime Minister Pauline Marois, if he had entered through this back door. “It’s a blatant safety issue!” “, he hammers. Moreover, if by some miracle, Richard Henry Bain’s weapon had not jammed, “the 12, we also went there! he exclaims.
Recently, Gaël Ghiringhelli resigned himself to leaving Quebec to return to France. Yet it was here, in Quebec, that he wanted to build his life, first as a stage technician, then as a cabinetmaker. But all his dreams came crashing down on September 4, 2012.
“Me, I have nothing! he spits.
The trial, scheduled for three weeks, continues Friday before Judge Philippe Bélanger. My Virginie Dufresne-Lemire and Justin Wee represent the plaintiffs.