A young man stabbed by a close mafia at the exit of bars in the Old Port of Montreal lives in fear of suffering reprisals, while the assailant told him of “his remorse and his sympathies”.
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“I have fears of experiencing reprisals, it has led to hypervigilance, for example when someone knocks on my door at an unusual time”, said the victim of Nicola Spagnolo in a statement read this Wednesday at the Montreal courthouse.
Through the voice of his lawyer Me Danièle Roy, the 48-year-old defendant retorted by offering his sympathies, even offering to pay him “compensation” for the financial inconvenience.
But the consequences of the crime suffered by the victim are not limited to a simple question of money, she said. Claiming to have experienced episodes of paranoia, the young man whose identity is protected by the court thus recalled the trauma experienced in August 2020 after going for a drink in a bar in the Old Port of Montreal.
However, that evening, Spagnolo, 48, was also there with a woman. Towards the end of the evening, the victim would have addressed her and following a short argument, the accused stabbed the man in the stomach, in the middle of the street.
Accused “picked”
“It was a vicious and cowardly blow,” pleaded Me Matthew Ferguson of the Crown, recalling that the young man had lost around 20% of his blood.
The surveillance camera videos being without sound, the reasons for the dispute are still unclear. But according to the defense, it is clear that it was not Spagnolo who had initiated the chicanery, but the victim who had “picossed” him.
“It is [la victime] who was looking for trouble, [Spagnolo] is not the one who initiated the conflict nor the one who added fuel to the fire”, she pleaded, recalling that this did not excuse the gesture for which her client was recognized. guilty.
She also deplored that in the victim’s statement, the latter did not mention that she “may have to think about her attitude” which, according to the defense, contributed to the dispute degenerating in the evening. drama.
Following his trial, Spagnolo was found guilty of aggravated assault. And for the Crown, the accused deserves 4 years in prison. The defense recommends a sentence of 18 months. Spagnolo will know his sentence this summer.