Sabre attack in Old Quebec: Crown seeks Supreme Court intervention to prevent retrial

The Crown sought an appeal hearing at Canada's Supreme Court on Friday to overturn the appellate decision ordering a second trial for Carl Girouard.

Girouard: Crown attempts to block second trial

A second trial against Carl Girouard, responsible for the deadly Japanese sabre attack in Old Quebec on Halloween night 2020, is now uncertain. As reported by ledevoir.com, the Crown filed a leave to appeal application to Canada's Supreme Court on Friday in order for that court to restore the original guilty verdicts and set aside the Court of Appeal's decision.

Carl Girouard had been found guilty of killing two people — François Duchesne and Suzanne Clermont — and of attempting to kill five others. He was 24 years old at the time of the offences. On the evening of 31 October 2020, he went to Old Quebec and randomly attacked passers-by he encountered. The trial judge, Richard Grenier, had described his crimes as "absolutely atrocious", finding that they had destroyed the lives of "a multitude of people". Girouard had been sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole for 25 years.

In March last year, the Court of Appeal had quashed the guilty verdicts and ordered a new trial, on the grounds that the jury had received incorrect instructions during its deliberations. According to the Court, Judge Grenier "failed to properly instruct the jury on the impossibility of using the appellant's silence to determine the question of his guilt".

By seising the Supreme Court, the Crown hopes that the country's highest judicial body will overturn this decision and restore the original convictions, which would render a second trial unnecessary. The Supreme Court must still decide whether to accept or decline to hear the case.

Source: Google News CA — Québec (FR)