A rivalry between two groups of young people belonging to different sectors of Montreal led to the tragic death of young Jannai Dopwell three years ago. The trial of the alleged murderer of the 16-year-old teenager stabbed several times after school began this week.
This quarrel between the sectors of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Côte-des-Neiges was mentioned by the prosecutor Me Katerine Brabant at the opening of the trial of Andreï Donet. The latter is accused of the unpremeditated murder of Jannai Dopwell Bailey, a 16-year-old teenager killed in 2021 as he left his school.
On October 18, 2021 around 3 p.m., a student and his friends were leaving a high school located on Van Horne Avenue. “This student is Jannai Dopwell Bailey, aka Twizzy,” said Crown prosecutor M.e Katerine Brabant.
Three minutes after leaving class, he was going to die.
The Crown described a planned and vicious stabbing attack: the accused, an accomplice and a third individual had been at the scene of the crime for already 15 minutes. They were all masked, according to the prosecutor.
Jannai Dopwell Bailey and her friends joined the alleged attacker in a small park. Very quickly, the victim is sprayed with cayenne pepper. Andreï Donet, then aged 18, and his accomplice allegedly pursued him. “They caught up with him. You will see that they didn’t give him a chance. An unfair attack was coming,” said M.e Brabant.
The teenager received nearly ten stab wounds to the upper body, according to the summary of the facts stated in the courtroom.
A conflict between two groups, the “160” or “UPTOWN” –– associated with the Côte-des-Neiges district – and the “51” or “DG” of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce would be at the heart of the violent attack which cost the life of Jannai Dopwell Bailey.
“The accused did not seem to appreciate the 160, with which the victim was associated,” revealed the public prosecutor.
Evidence on Snapchat
The Crown briefly described to the jury posts the accused made on social media before and after the attack. About an hour before the crime, the accused allegedly made a post on Instagram. “In the foreground, we see a bottle of alcohol and a knife,” said Me Brabant.
The alleged killer would have celebrated the murder in a filmed sequence published on Snapchat where “he seemed to be rejoicing, according to the prosecutor. “We see in this video a can of cayenne pepper. And once again, a knife,” summed up Me Brabant in the courtroom.
The individual in the video is masked. But according to the prosecution’s theory, it is indeed Andreï Donet. He would have been recognized thanks to his distinctive tattoos bearing the image of the “51”, the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce group with which he would be associated.
Andreï Donet, defended by Me Martin Latour and Me Benoit Demchuck was present in the accused box, his face marked by a black eye.
His trial presided over by Judge Annie Émond continues Thursday.