A semi-automatic weapon, loaded pistols and other crafts, silencers, silicone masks representing men’s faces, GPS beacons; a real treasure, hidden in a hole drilled in the wall, behind a cupboard, was waiting for the police when they searched the home of Giovanni Presta Jr. in Terrebonne, in February 2019.
Posted at 7:00 a.m.
The trial of Presta son, 37, has been taking place since the beginning of last week in Superior Court before judge alone, for the premeditated murder of biker Sébastien Beauchamp, who died under a hail of bullets, in the afternoon of December 20. 2018 in the parking lot of a gas station in a busy area of the borough of Saint-Léonard, in Montreal.
It was former organized crime hitman Frédérick Silva who killed Beauchamp, but according to the theory of the prosecution — represented by Mr.e Antoine Piché and M.e Nathalie Kléber — her driver that day would have been Giovanni Presta Jr.
On the day that police officers from the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) arrested Silva after more than two years on the run, in February 2019, they also searched rue d’Anvers in Terrebonne, at the residence of Presta Jr., whom they considered to be one of the hitman’s accomplices.
While searching the house, they noticed that in the basement bathroom, the screws used to attach a cabinet were loose. They pulled out the wardrobe and saw a hole in the wall.
“When we removed the cupboard, we could clearly see a hole in the gypsum and objects were hidden there. We started by seeing that there were at least two or three guns and bags. In one of these was a mask of a man with a brown beard and hair. There was also a license plate in this place which we called a weapons cache after our discovery, ”said Denis Cardin, former investigator of Major Crimes of the SPVM, now retired.
Elsewhere in Presta Jr.’s house, in different rooms, the police also seized a 3D printer, a drill press, various plastic and metal parts, other silencers, chargers and man masks, a butt of weapon, a gun-making manual, a dozen SIM cards, cell phones, laptops, boxes with ammunition, GPS beacons, and a khaki winter coat that was of interest to investigators.
A police officer, crime scene technician, also testified that a fingerprint of Presta son was identified on the packaging bag of a man’s mask found at the place where Frédérick Silva was holed up, rue Duke , to Montreal.
White Malibu
Last week, an SPVM investigator, Victor Melo Gomes, explained that shortly after Beauchamp’s murder, the police spotted a surveillance camera on a residence on rue Courval, near the intersection of boulevards Robert and Langelier. Minutes before the crime, the camera caught a man exiting the passenger side of a Chevrolet Malibu car. As he exited the vehicle, the man appeared to adjust what appeared to be a mask over his face. The individual, who is believed to be Beauchamp’s killer, promptly returned a few minutes later and the Malibu drove off.
The police then found the car – rental – which was equipped with a GPS. They noticed that the same vehicle was present near the scene of the murder on December 20, 2018.
They retraced his route and found other surveillance cameras, including one from a gas station which captured images on which they recognized Giovanni Presta Jr. filling up the Malibu.
In defense, Mr.e Dominique Shoofey had a forensic biologist from the Laboratory of Forensic Sciences and Forensic Medicine admit that she had not been able to establish the presence of Presta son’s DNA in the car. Questioned by M.e Kléber, however, clarified that disinfectant wipes can make a person’s DNA disappear.
The trial, which could end at the beginning of October, is presided over by judge Marc-André Blanchard. Giovanni Presta junior is also defended by Me Audrey-Bianca Chabauty.
Frédérick Silva has already been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Sébastien Beauchamp and for other murders.
Following his conviction, he became a collaborator for the police. The prosecution filed a 60-page statement from Silva at the start of Presta Jr.’s trial, but chose not to call the repentant former hitman to testify.
This has been regularly questioned by SPVM and Sûreté du Québec investigators for several weeks and could help solve several murders committed in the organized crime community in recent years.
To reach Daniel Renaud, dial 514 285-7000, ext. 4918, write to [email protected] or to the postal address of The Press.