An incorrigible bank robber who planned his attack so poorly that he was caught like an amateur can at least take solace in the fact that the Crown has given up on having him declared a long-term offender.
“Three experts concluded that it should not be considered dangerous or requires control,” said Me François Parent of the Crown this Friday at the Montreal courthouse.
Mounir Abou Daye, 37, will therefore not be subject to a supervision order once he has completed his sentence for his latest crime from the summer of 2021.
At the time, the repeat offender had only been at large for a year after serving eight years in prison for a series of eight bank robberies in the greater Montreal area. And since he owed money to a loan shark, he decided to go back to his bad habits.
Pinched in 21 minutes
The only problem was that Abou Daye was so rusty that he was jammed in like an amateur in just 21 minutes.
Even before Mounir committed his robbery, he had rented a getaway car and given his real name so that he could be easily found.
He then went to a Scotiabank branch in Mount Royal with his face covered to demand money from employees.
“Give me all your money, big bills, I have a gun, don’t hit the panic button,” the robber said afterwards, according to the summary of facts compiled.
The employees obeyed so much that after two minutes, Abou Daye left the premises $8,675 richer.
Unfortunately for the defendant, one of the wads of cash contained GPS trackers. Abou Daye found one and threw it in the trash during his escape, but if he thought he would get away with it, that wasn’t the case.
“There was more than one device,” the Crown explained when the robber pleaded guilty to robbery last February.
Poorly hidden
Found, Abou Daye continued his escape on foot to hide under a gallery. Unfortunately, Tyco, a police dog, put the bloodhounds on his trail. And when his elbow emerged from hiding, authorities quickly got their hands on his collar.
“Ok, ok,” Abou Daye said as he surrendered.
Since this was the third series of robberies for the defendant, who had committed similar crimes in 2009 and 2015, the Crown had considered declaring him a long-term offender. However, reports from psychiatrists suggested that this would not be justified, so the prosecutor had no choice but to drop the idea.
However, Abou Daye is due back in court at a later date to comment on the sentence he will receive.