Three young people accused of operating a structured luxury car theft network will no longer have to face justice, due to the State’s inability to try them within a reasonable time, thereby ruining an investigation. of a month involving around twenty police officers.
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“The situation is unfortunate given the efforts made by the police in investigating this matter. But since the deadlines exceed the ceiling [fixé par la Cour suprême]the court has no choice but to order a halt to the proceedings,” commented Judge Salvatore Mascia in a decision made public in the last few days.
James Rizk, Ali Trad and Obeida Borghol, aged 26 to 27, immediately saw the accusations of vehicle theft and conspiracy thrown into the trash, to the great dismay of the Montreal police, who had not spared their efforts. efforts in this investigation.
“Simple but structured” strategy
This is because the trio had set up a “simple but structured” way to steal luxury vehicles, we read in the decision.
“They rented high-end vehicles from car rental companies, installed a GPS and made a copy of the key,” the judge said. When another customer rented one of the vehicles, he found it using GPS and stole it.”
To gather enough evidence, the police had put in place a surveillance plan. Thus, for around ten days, the accused were followed closely by surveillance agents. This led them to a garage in Montreal North, where suspects were seen “doing something to the vehicles”, possibly installing GPS beacons.
Ontario police were also involved, as the group allegedly stole two vehicles in the neighboring province before bringing them to Montreal.
Delay over delay
The police investigation culminated in the arrest and indictment of the group in 2021.
Except that since then, the case has only dragged on.
First there was the Crown, which mismanaged the case, noted the judge, deploring “the blatant absence of a concrete plan […] to complete the case,” noted the judge. And combining this error with the conflict between the Minister of Justice and the Chief Justice at the time (which led to less court time for judges), all the ingredients were in place to increase delays.
“In summary, the institutional delays as well as the inaction of government authorities […] are to blame for a large part of the delays,” we can read in the judgment in the part which takes up the position of the defense.
The Crown had tried to blame certain delays on the backlash of the pandemic, but without success.
“COVID-19 does not give carte blanche to excuse delays,” ruled the judge.
A “scourge across the country”
The trial was finally set for May 2024 for three weeks, but it was too late, the judge ruled, recalling that the Supreme Court had established strict time limits for an accused to undergo a trial. In the case of Rizk, Trad and Obeida, the cap was 18 months.
So much so that the judge had no choice but to side with M’s arguments.are Mustapha Mahmoud, Andrée-Anne Dion and David Leclair for the defense in ordering the proceedings to be stopped due to unreasonable delays.
And this, despite the fact that vehicle theft is a growing concern, with significant consequences for motorists.
“Not without concern, the theft of motor vehicles has become a scourge throughout the country and particularly in the city of Montreal,” recognized the judge.
Note that just last year, more than 90,000 vehicles were stolen in the country, with the port of Montreal seeming to be the most popular exit point for exporting stolen cars.
The situation is such that as recently as the beginning of the month a national summit on the subject was held. Among other things, we learned that car thefts had caused insurance premiums to jump by $105 on average last year.