(Laval) At the trial of a 16-year-old accused of murdering his 15-year-old best friend, the victim’s brother admitted on Monday that he lied to the police because he was “afraid people would think it was was an ambush ”. The three young people who fought with the accused all delivered different versions during the trial.
Peter *, the victim’s brother, is the last Crown witness in Theo’s trial, on trial for the first degree murder of Max *. The 15-year-old teenager died stabbed in a park in the Fabreville district, in Laval, on 1er January 2020. After a month of trial in the Youth Chamber, no witness claimed to have seen the fatal blow.
Until the holiday break, brothers Peter and Max and the accused were inseparable friends who played the popular online game League of Legends every day. But a banal bickering on social networks about a girl caused a stopover of insults. “It started with nothing,” says Peter. But following the threats launched by Theo, the brothers wanted to “settle it with words” in Marc-Aurèle Fortin park.
“I had an idea it could escalate. I’m not that naive, ”Peter concedes. Before going to the meeting, Peter also told his brother that he was going to “beat Theo up”.
While the two brothers arrive at the park accompanied by three friends, Theo is alone. According to Peter, Theo approaches them, his hands in his pockets. Peter then takes him by the collar while his brother punches him. There follows “exchanges” of blows between the three teenagers. During the fight, Theo holds Peter’s hood firmly, which prevents him from seeing well, he explains. Peter tries to trip his opponent.
It was when Theo finally fell that he pulled out his knife, according to Peter. “It’s very fuzzy in my head. I saw Theo holding the knife. That’s all I saw, ”he vaguely described on Monday. He therefore did not see the fatal blow received by his brother.
But after the drama, Peter was much more specific in describing the scene to the police. He convincingly mimicked how he had “blocked” Theo’s arm to force him to drop his knife. He also said that Theo first tried to hit him, but dodged the blow.
“I would have a lot of changes to make, because I was in shock,” he defended himself. If he “lied” to the police twice, it was because he was “traumatized” by the events, he swears. “I was immature,” he repeats in a close cross-examination led by Mr.e Guy Poupart.
One of the youngsters, Nick *, has already testified that the initial plan was to “all jump” on Theo. The friends had also prepared the fight at McDonald’s just before the meeting. According to Nick, the brothers hit the accused 10 to 15 times. And when the latter brandished his knife, there were four of them “on top of him.” Another teenager, Carl *, claimed to have punched the accused a dozen times alongside the brothers.
After his arrest, Theo told the police that he had fallen into an “ambush”.
Peter’s cross-examination continues on Tuesday.
* Fictitious names