Mr. D'Onofrio, 72, a regular at the Fleury Street establishment, was confused with a man linked to the Montreal mafia, Antonio Vanelli, by the shooter.
Angelo D'Onofrio (left) and Antonio Vanelli (at ... (PHOTOS FILED IN COURT) - image 2.0 Enlarge Angelo D'Onofrio (on the left) and Antonio Vanelli (on the right)
PICTURES IN COURT
Messrs. D'Onofrio and Vanelli had a certain resemblance and their photos were filed and compared before the jury.
Theus and an accomplice suspected of driving the vehicle that was used for the crime, Ebamba Ndutu Lufiau, were arrested in 2017 following a major crimes investigation by the SPVM.
Surveillance camera images and DNA evidence were presented to the jury during the trial.
Mafioso Antonio Vanelli signed a written statement explaining that his vehicle was parked near the cafe on the day of the murder, and an investigator from the organized crime division testified in writing that there were tensions within the Montreal mafia at the time of the murder. crime.
Due to a health problem, the trial stopped for Lufiau but continued in the case of Theus, who was the one who shot on June 2, 2016. The jurors delivered their verdict after two full days of deliberations.
La Presse seized the video interrogation of Theus by the police on the day of his arrest. For more than two hours, an SPVM Major Crime investigator tries by all means to crack the suspect but he refuses to talk and goes to bed in the small room.
The woman of the victim, Lina Simone.
"That day, he took two lives"
The pleadings on the sentence were fixed on April 18th. The victim's wife, Lina Simone, is expected to make a statement. "I can not put words to describe how I feel. That day, he took two lives, Lino's and mine. The whole family is suffering. I do not wish anyone to feel what I feel. I am not relieved but justice has been done. I'm happy for Lino and he too would have been happy with this verdict of murder in the first degree if he had been there, "he told La Presse M me Simone, on leaving the courtroom.
"This is the verdict we were waiting for. We are very satisfied with the work of the jury. We thank him, "said for his part M e Eric de Champlain, who represented the prosecution in the company of M e Kateryne Brabant.
Visibly shocked, M e Elizabeth Menard and M e Audrey Bianca Chabauty, representing Jeff Theus, would not comment on the verdict. The trial was chaired by Judge Daniel Royer of the Superior Court.
