MONTREAL – Four men convicted this year in a violent home invasion, during which a Laval businessman was shot and injured, have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from the equivalent of nine years to 11 years.
The home invasion was carried out after midnight on Aug. 29, 2006.
The businessman and his wife were assaulted, tied up and were threatened during the robbery.
While rendering his decision at the Laval courthouse Thursday morning, Quebec Court Judge Paul Chevalier saved the most severe sentence for Andy Lamitié, despite the fact he was the only one of the four who did not have a criminal record. While sentencing Lamitié to the equivalent of an 11-year prison term, Chevalier described him as the mastermind of the home invasion. To make matters worse, there is evidence while he was awaiting trial Lamitié used a cellphone that had been smuggled into a detention centre and made calls to a man suspected of intimidating a witness in the case.
Hantz Dessources also was sentenced to the equivalent of 11 years, while Ronald Joseph was sentenced to 10 years and Ricardo Nelson was sentenced to nine years.
It was the couple’s son, who was in the basement of the home at the time and on a computer, who aborted whatever the robbers had planned.
Hearing the sounds of a struggle as his father was beaten by the robbers, the son ran from the home barefoot and called 911.
When the Laval police arrived, they saw the robbers fleeing.
While searching the nearby area, they found Terry Damas-Cafe sitting in an SUV that was supposed to be used as a getaway vehicle. Damas-Cafe claimed he had just visited his girlfriend and was merely admiring the nice houses in the neighbourhood. His explanation defied logic and Laval police arrested him.
Damas-Cafe eventually became a witness for the Crown and was the person Lamitié is suspected of intimidating by using the contraband cellphone from his jail cell.
The police also set up barricades in the area and, two hours after the home invasion, a local resident who went through one mentioned seeing two suspicious men nearby on foot. When officers went to check it out, they found Dessources and Nelson. The bottom of their pants were soaked in mud. It was evident they had walked through a wooded area behind the home to make their getaway.
Nelson claimed they had been to a friend’s house, were lost and were looking for a bus stop. One problem with Nelson’s story was that he didn’t have any money, a bus ticket or a pass.
Damas-Cafe testified in court that Lamitié recruited him for the home invasion. He was supposed to be paid $8,000.
Damas-Cafe testified Lamitié initially planned to steal documents from the home. The plan later changed to where the Laval businessman was supposed to be kidnapped and brought to see a man who was paying for their services. The name of the man who was supposedly paying Lamitié was not revealed in court.
The victims’ names are protected by a publication ban.
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