A teenager who fatally assaulted an elderly man walking in the Rivière-des-Prairies neighborhood had never driven a car in her life except in the arcades, she testified at her alleged accomplice’s trial.
• Also read: Pedestrians trapped in a residential area: The accused is said to have encouraged the driver to accelerate
“I had never driven a car, it was a friend who rented the vehicle on Snapchat and loaned it to me. “They explained to me that it’s like a go-kart, there’s the brake and the accelerator,” the teenager said Wednesday at the Montreal courthouse.
The 19-year-old witness was on the witness stand in the trial of Jean Berbens Petit, a 22-year-old Montrealer who is accused of driving dangerously and fleeing police.
The sad event that claimed the life of 79-year-old Carolina Zollo-Braca happened on March 16, 2021. The teenager, whose name cannot be given because she was a minor at the time, even got behind the wheel to getting to a friend’s party even though she had no driving experience.
decency
Carolina Zollo-Braca, victim
“It was about driving faster, wasting less time, I wanted to be at the party,” the jury witness said, adding that she only “driven” “in the arcades.”
There were two people in the vehicle, including Petit. However, while driving, she was caught by the police driving at 70 km/h. But when they tried to intercept it, the driver would have accelerated.
encouragement
And according to the Crown theory, it was Petit who encouraged her to do so.
“He became an accomplice to dangerous driving by encouraging the driver to drive faster to flee police in a residential and school district,” Me Sylvie Dulude said at the start of the trial.
And according to a witness at the scene, the teenager drove so fast that the car “jumped” at every speed bump installed in the area.
“[Le véhicule] “It didn’t go straight, he jumped, we could see there was no control,” this witness said Wednesday.
As the teenager was about to turn at an intersection with a mandatory stop, he lost control and crashed head-on into the eldest, who died from her injuries.
“The three people got out of the car and left,” the witness added, saying none of them tried to help the victim.
The jury trial, presided over by Judge François Dadour, lasts all day. Me Clemente Monterosso is representing the defendant, who pleaded not guilty.
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