Two Montrealers who shot an ordinary senior citizen who was drinking coffee and reading his newspaper demonstrated all their “recklessness and contempt for human life,” the judge commented sternly before sentencing one of them to life in prison.
• Also read: Her partner was killed by mistake: she denounces those who unscrupulously shoot in the streets
“All murder cases stimulate the imagination and this one leaves us speechless. What should we say to the members of Angelo D’Onofrio’s family who, for seven years, still feel incomprehension about this tragedy? “Accepting the unacceptable is the great challenge that awaits you,” lamented Judge Hélène Di Salvo this Wednesday in the Montreal courthouse.
In the courtroom, the relatives of the deceased listened attentively to the judge, who recalled their pain over the murder of the victim, who was accidentally killed because he was mistaken for a mafia boss. Mr. D’Onofrio was a quiet man who was loved by all and described as a true gentleman.
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Angelo D’Onofrio and Lina Simone are completely happy before the man is accidentally shot.
“What happened on June 2, 2016 was a wild act in the middle of a public square,” the victim’s brothers and sisters said in a letter read out in court.
Done by mistake
This is because Jeff Joubens Theus and Ebamba Ndutu Lufiau, aged 32 and 35, wanted to kill a mafioso named Vanelli. However, when they saw Mr. D’Onofrio, they mistakenly believed that he was their target.
“Theus executed the victim by firing several times in his direction [Lufiau] He was waiting for him in the vehicle he used to flee the scene,” the statement of facts states.
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Ebamba Lufiau
The duo then attempted to destroy the evidence by burning it in an alley, but citizens’ vigilance ensured that firefighters intervened quickly while securing incriminating items for the duo.
Lufiau tried in vain to deny everything, so much so that he eventually pleaded guilty to second-degree murder just before undergoing a second trial. Theus, for his part, had been found guilty of premeditated murder.
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Jeff Joubens Theus
An “emptiness” in the hearts of loved ones
But if these verdicts often help victims’ families turn the tide, the road in this case will be long.
“The emptiness that has arisen, the loss of orientation, the loss of a reason for being is even more pronounced today than it was then,” said Lina Simone, Mr. D’Onofrio’s wife. They took his life, and they quietly take ours too.”
Recalling that Lufiau was as responsible for the murder as the shooter Theus, the judge sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole before serving at least 13 years behind bars. Theus, for his part, has to wait 25 years before he can return to the fresh air.
However, for the wife of the deceased, these sentences will not ease her pain.
“This tragedy is a death sentence for her,” the judge noted. Nothing can fill the void left by violent death [d’Angelo D’Onofrio]», it says in the verdict.
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