The family of Cédrika Provencher made a rare public appearance on Wednesday to attend the preliminary hearings of the civil suit filed by Jonathan Bettez against the State and the Sûreté du Québec. Discussions continued throughout the day between the parties.
Martin and Henri Provencher, the father and grandfather of Cédrika Provencher, surprised journalists by arriving in the middle of the morning at the Montreal courthouse. The two men therefore found themselves briefly in the same room as Jonathan Bettez, who remains the number one suspect in the murder for the police. The Provenchers did not wish to grant an interview.
The disappearance of the 9-year-old girl in July 2007 in Trois-Rivières shocked Quebec at the time. Cédrika’s bones were finally found in 2015 in a wooded area about ten kilometers from the site of her disappearance. No one has been charged in this case.
But in the eyes of the police, Jonathan Bettez remains the main suspect in the murder. However, a “Mister big” type infiltration operation of an unprecedented scale did not make it possible to obtain a confession from Bettez. A judge also scolded the police for their investigative techniques in a child pornography case, for which Bettez was acquitted outright.
It is because of this “relentlessness” that Jonathan Bettez and members of his family are suing the government and the Sûreté du Québec for $10 million.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Jonathan Bettez at the Montreal courthouse on Monday.
This is not the trial taking place this week. Judge Gregory Moore hears preliminary motions for disclosure of documents. The debates are often cryptic since the content of some of these documents is unknown. But on Tuesday, Mr. Bettez’s lawyer revealed that DNA had been discovered on “evidence” found at the site of the bones, according to a report.
The lawyers for the Attorney General of Quebec (PGQ) wanted most of these debates to take place behind closed doors, without journalists. However, following the intervention of a media lawyer, Judge Moore allowed journalists to attend testimony in camera. This decision seemed to disconcert government lawyers who even put forward the idea of making journalists sign “confidentiality agreements”. An avenue which would open a “Pandora’s box”, according to Judge Moore.
This decision seemed to bring the two camps closer together, since they have been negotiating since Tuesday afternoon in order to considerably shorten the preliminary debates. The courtroom hearings only lasted a few minutes on Wednesday. A brief debate is expected to be held Thursday morning on the issue of wiretapping evidence sealed in the child pornography criminal file.