An hour after stabbing a 16-year-old teenager to death in a schoolyard in the Côte-des-Neiges district, a little boy is said to have celebrated his crime in a video posted on social media.
This video will ultimately be shown in the jury trial of a minor, which began this morning in the juvenile chamber. The young man, who cannot be named due to his age, is accused of the premeditated murder of 16-year-old Jannai Dopwell-Bailey.
“Maybe you’ll recognize it [l’accusé] Celebrate and mock the victim by holding a knife in your hands. More importantly, this video was released an hour after the knife attack on Jannai,” Crown prosecutor Simon Robin told the jury in his opening statement.
October 18, 2021 must have been an ordinary weekday for Jannai Dopwell-Bailey. But he never came home to his parents that night. As he was leaving his school at the end of class, he was stabbed on the school grounds near the front door.
13 seconds
Mr Simon Robin wants to prove in the moments before the murder that the now 18-year-old defendant was strolling around the school from which he would have been expelled a few weeks earlier. He was with two other people at the time.
One of them allegedly pepper-sprayed Jannai Dopwell-Bailey, who tried to escape. The defendant is then said to have pushed the victim against a wall and then stabbed him in the upper body.
During the trial, the jury will be shown surveillance camera footage. But the armed attack took place in a blind spot: “Everything happened very quickly. Only 13 seconds pass between the moment the accused surprises the victim and the moment Jannai is seen struggling to walk while bleeding,” Me Simon Robin pointed out.
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After the murder, the defendant is said to have returned to an apartment near the school. At that time the video was posted on Instagram.
According to the Crown, he then attempted to flee from police. Three days later, the boy was handcuffed in Ottawa.
“We want to show that he used it during his flight [un cellulaire] to send messages laying out a plan for the version he will present to authorities after his arrest,” Me Robin told the 12 jurors.
The Crown could not explain why the defendant attacked the 16-year-old, the prosecution said.
The trial continues in the afternoon.
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