A sign that the jury’s deliberations could be long, at the trial of Paul Zaidan for kidnapping and forcible confinement, two jurors asked on Tuesday to be able to replenish their supplies of cannabis and cigarettes for the rest of the legal process.
Posted yesterday at 4:12 p.m.
The jury has been isolated since last Friday, at the Laval courthouse, at the trial of the 52-year-old ex-franchisee accused of having kidnapped Nicholas Tsouflidis, president of the restaurant chain Chez Cora, and of having demanded a ransom of $11 million to his mother, Cora Tsouflidou, founder of the company.
Four members of the jury had requests for Judge François Dadour on Tuesday: one wanted to call his mother, another needed prescription drugs, and two asked that relatives go for them to the SQDC to buy them cannabis.
“The lack is starting to be felt,” explained one of the jurors.
The judge agreed to the requests of the jurors, recalling that the deliberations were taking place “with all the seriousness they require”.
“I understand from these requests that it is about reasonable recreational consumption,” he said.