SAINT-JEROME | A Terrebonne man allegedly stabbed and shot his friend several times, who had asked him for forgiveness earlier in the day by text message for a love triangle story, in the fall of 2021.
“Maxime Villeneuve had just started a relationship with Maïté Hébert, it was very recent. Maïté is a free woman, but she was Simon Décarie’s ex,” summarized Me Steve D. Fontaine, Crown prosecutor, during his opening statement.
The jury trial of Simon Décarie opened this morning at the Saint-Jérôme courthouse. The 29-year-old man is accused of the premeditated murder of Maxime Villeneuve, who was his friend at the time.
The accused, Simon Décarie.
Courtesy
“He is a young man with no history, who worked in construction as a roofer. He had just returned with his father to work,” detailed Me Fontaine about the victim. On October 6, 2021, he made a decision, he sent a text message to his friend to ask for forgiveness.
“I have plenty to do”
That evening, Décarie was having dinner alone at home with his new acquaintance when he received a message on his cell phone.
“We laughed, we had fun, it was a beautiful evening,” said Valérie Brisebois. His phone rang, he got a text message. He looked at me and said: ‘I have things to do, I’m going away and I’ll come back.’”
Neighbors of Maxime Villeneuve, in Blainville, heard gunshots before seeing a small vehicle “running away quickly.”
“He just had three shots, I think. There’s a car that just left really fast. […] I think it was a dark blue or black Mazda 3,” calmly explained the neighbor across the street, Mathieu Provencher, to a 911 dispatcher. His call made after 11 p.m. was heard by the jury, made up of six women and as many men.
The first responders then discovered the body of the 27-year-old young man, who had already died from his injuries. Two projectiles were also found in his apartment, on the 61e avenue.
A gun and a knife
Maïté Hébert, the victim’s new girlfriend, reportedly received a call from Simon Décarie during the night during which he said “he stabbed him and shot him.”
Décarie left from Terrebonne to Blainville, angry and determined with the equipment he needed to take justice into his own hands, according to the prosecution’s theory.
Moreover, 28 hours after the 911 call, the police found a Mazda 3 in Blainville, not very far from Maxime Villeneuve’s home. There was a gun in the suitcase. They also got their hands on a knife very close to the vehicle, on which the victim’s DNA and fibers from the victim’s clothing were found, the Crown intends to demonstrate.
It was admitted at trial that the accused owned a black 2015 Mazda 3 at the time.
The trial continues tomorrow before Judge Alexandre Boucher.