A green plastic bag. This banal object is the centerpiece of the Crown at the trial of Joshua Sarroino. The alleged shooter is accused of having coldly murdered a man in the middle of a restaurant at the DIX30 shopping center in 2019.
“May 10, 2019 was a fateful day for Éric Francis De Souza. His life ended when he was 24 years old. He died of a single shot to the head,” Crown prosecutor Ms.e Tian Meng, in his opening statement.
Joshua Sarroino, a 29-year-old Laval resident, is charged with premeditated murder. His jury trial began Wednesday at the Montreal courthouse.
According to the story of the prosecution, Éric Francis De Souza was seated that evening with friends for a birthday party at the Sofia restaurant in the DIX30 district, in Brossard. It has its back to the main door of the establishment. The gunman, masked, wears a hat and holds a green plastic bag in his hands.
The assassin immediately walks towards Eric Francis De Souza, raises his arm holding the bag and fires a single bullet behind the head of the young man who collapses in front of his friends. The shooter then fled towards the main entrance door of the restaurant.
The assassin is in fact the accused, Joshua Sarroino, will try to prove the public ministry.
“Prepare not to see the face of the accused on the surveillance cameras. Our position is that he took the necessary measures not to be recognized,” Mr.e Meng, who teams up with Me Patrick Ostiguy and M.e Richard Rougeau.
The prosecution’s evidence is therefore essentially circumstantial.
Footage from surveillance cameras that will be shown to the jury follows the shooter’s movements for a while, until he disappears into the mist. “The escape route taken by the shooter is a key part of this puzzle. Be on the lookout for details,” said Ms.e Meng to the jury.
A few minutes later, not far from there, a Ford Focus car caught fire. A surveillance camera films a person passing in front of the burning vehicle. Also, later in the evening, the police found a firearm in a plastic bag at the restaurant Les 3 Brasseurs. Five bullets and a casing are there.
This green plastic bag is at the heart of the prosecution’s evidence. The fingerprints of the accused, as well as his DNA, were indeed found on the said bag, will come to testify the experts of the public ministry. Also, a month after the murder, the car the accused was driving matched the same model of vehicle seen on surveillance cameras the night of the murder, according to the Crown.
Me Danièle Roy defends the accused. The trial is scheduled for a few weeks before Judge Pierre Labrie of the Superior Court.