Ex-soldier Martin Lévesque, who is accused of killing one of his neighbours, Patricia Sirois, in Saint-Raymond in 2021, said he was “getting on edge” after being the victim of an attempted robbery and arson.
• Also read: Murder of Patricia Sirois: A neighbor describes the chaos in the minutes after the tragedy
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At least that’s what the defendant confirmed in the early hours of the day after the tragedy in a nearly six-hour interrogation conducted at the Surete du Québec police station, the records of which were presented to the jury on Monday.
The 50-year-old in white overalls looks relaxed, with tousled hair and a beard. With a weak voice and withdrawn, he gives the investigator Jonathan Haché only brief answers.
The latter comes to ask him if he has problems with the neighborhood. Lévesque says there is generally a good understanding but that he was the victim of two attempted robberies and “recently” an attempted arson, all unexplained.
“Blurred” memories
“I found it strange. […] I do not understand why […] I was on my nerves […] I was really scared,” we can hear the man, who describes himself as a firearms collector, say as he walked to his home.
Moreover, he does not hide the fact that since that time he has brought his arms closer. He adds that he does not know who is said to have committed these crimes and makes no connection to the events of that fateful evening.
The record revealed so far does not allow us to learn more about what prompted him to shoot in the direction of Patricia Sirois on rue Marlène.
“I’d rather not talk about it […]it’s blurry,” he confided to the investigator around the evening of September 10, 2021.
At other times during the interrogation, Martin Lévesque asserts that he served in the army for 23 years and that he “fell ill” when he retired four years ago.
He claims to have been deployed to several conflict zones, including Afghanistan and Bosnia, to have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and to have been on medication.
“It’s up and down,” he says.
Another difficult call
Earlier in the day, the 14 jurors heard another difficult call made to 911 the night of the murder. We hear a neighbor, Priscille Carrier, alarmed by the presence of an unconscious woman in a vehicle.
It was she who finally immobilized the car in which the victim was shot and tried to calm the two small children who were watching from the back seat.
She tried to save the driver, who was badly injured in his head, but “I understood there was nothing more to do,” Ms Carrier said in an emotional statement.