The man accused of stabbing a court interpreter at the Longueuil courthouse implicitly acknowledged the theory that it was an unfounded attack and that the victim was chosen at random.
“Of course I don’t know him,” Alexandre Garcés answered openly when he learned that an order had been issued prohibiting him from contact with the victim, Hai Thach.
The 44-year-old defendant was back in court this morning at the same location where he allegedly committed his crime on Tuesday afternoon.
He is charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, assault and weapons possession.
He is said to have attacked the 68-year-old court interpreter by brutally stabbing him several times.
Photo agency QMI, Maxime Deland
The victim had been cited for a crime. She was in a cabin when she was attacked.
Attorney on file
Mr. Thach was allegedly stabbed in the neck. Seriously injured, he then fled into a toilet. He was rescued by special police officers and then taken to hospital where he remains in a serious condition.
According to our information, the defendant said shortly after the attack that he was against “the system”.
Shortly before he attacked the victim, he asked to speak to a lawyer, we reported in the Journal this morning.
Garcés was not known to the authorities.
MAXIME DELAND/AGENCE QMI
According to initial findings, he had nothing to do with the courthouse at the time of the tragedy, neither as a defendant nor as a witness.
The person who was not represented at his first appearance, particularly because the law firm in Longueuil posed a significant conflict of interest, was finally able to find a lawyer.
I Anne-Sophie Dagenais, a lawyer from Montreal, is now defending him.