An officer from the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) accused of drug trafficking will be entitled to a new trial. The Court of Appeal of Quebec determined Thursday that the admission of guilt of the police officer Philippe Bonenfant was not voluntary, since he then suffered from a disorder of persecution.
Posted at 2:39 p.m.
Pinned in 2015 for trafficking in ecstasy and speed, agent Bonenfant finally admitted his guilt in January 2019 to three of the six counts brought against him. He had thus pleaded guilty to reduced charges: having advised an offense which is not committed, unauthorized use of a computer and unauthorized possession of a brass knuckles.
The police officer was also acquitted of charges related to drug trafficking. Judge Serge Delisle had sentenced him to a suspended sentence and three years probation without supervision. He had to submit to 240 hours of community work.
But everything now has to be redone. It is that at the time of recognizing his guilt, Philippe Bonenfant suffered “from a disease which was not detectable for the external observer, but affected his understanding of reality”, indicates the Court of Appeal.
New medical evidence shows that the 36-year-old suffered from a delusional disorder of persecution, which “led him to plead guilty in order to protect the safety of his family members from organized crime”, explains the Court call. Philippe Bonenfant and his expert were questioned on this subject last summer at the Longueuil courthouse, specifies the highest court in the province.
A new trial will therefore have to take place on the six counts.
Note that Philippe Bonenfant is also the target of a multimillion-dollar civil suit brought by two young black people who allege that they were arrested because of the color of their skin in October 2015.