Two young Montrealers are accused of unpremeditated murder for the blaze in a heritage building in Old Montreal which claimed the lives of a French tourist and her daughter at the beginning of the month.
• Also read: Fire in Old Montreal: one of the two arrested suspects had just served a sentence for… arson
Justin Fortier Trahan, 20, and Juventino Hernandez Pelaez, 18, briefly appeared by videoconference on Saturday morning at the Montreal courthouse.
The two men, who remain detained until their return to court next week, appeared calm and impassive in court.
They now risk life in prison, since five charges have been brought against them, including having caused the death of Léonor Geraudie, 43, and Vérane Reynaud-Geraudie, 7, on the night of 3 to October 4.
Around 2:30 a.m., no fewer than 25 people were inside a building on Notre-Dame Street when an arson fire broke out in a restaurant on the ground floor.
A can of gasoline was found at the home of the suspect believed to be behind the arson that left two dead in Old Montreal, on Lapointe Boulevard, in the east of the metropolis, on Friday October 11, 2024 .
Photo Agence QMI, Maxime Deland
Diametrically opposite
Fortier Trahan is suspected by the police of having started the blaze, while Hernandez Pelaez could have served as his driver.
They are also accused of having inflicted bodily harm on another individual because of the fire.
A little earlier that night, around 12:45 a.m., the suspects also tried to burn down a business on Wellington Street, according to the information document. The damage was minor, reports Montreal police.
Shortly after the appearances, The Journal went to meet a friend of Fortier Trahan.
The perception he had of the accused until now is diametrically opposed to the horror generated by the alleged crimes.
“I don’t even know how to react,” said the man who preferred to keep his identity secret. Coming from him, from a person with a good background and who has always been there for others, I must have had trouble seeing that.”
Many first responders were deployed after the fire on October 4.
MAXIME DELAND/AGENCE QMI
Son of a mafia boss targeted
Fortier Trahan would also have taken action when he had just served a nine and a half month prison sentence for another arson committed in Laval, in April 2023.
He had, along with other individuals, burned the vehicle of Djamil Pizzi, the son of the influential mafia boss Marco Pizzi.
Hernandez Pelaez has no criminal history as an adult, having recently reached the age of majority.
According to our information, he comes from an uneventful family and arrived in Canada at a very young age. He is said to have started hanging out with bad people as a teenager, without however committing serious crimes.
His relatives did not want to comment on Saturday.
Canister found
More than 200 agents have worked on this file full time since the fire.
Friday, investigators were busy searching the residences of the two suspects.
In particular, they found a new can of gasoline which would have been used to light the deadly blaze, hidden among waste on the rear balcony of the accommodation occupied by Fortier Trahan.
According to our information, the suspects were captured by a surveillance camera at a gas station filling it before the fire.
-With information from Camille Payant, Michaël Nguyen and Maxime Deland, Agence QMI