Jury hearing evidence in the trial of a Hells Angel accused of murdering prison guard Pierre Rondeau was shown crime scene photographs yesterday that illustrated the force and extent of the surprise attack
The photos were taken by Montreal police crime scene technician Robert Schanck after the ambush was carried out the morning of Sept. 8, 1997. Rondeau, at the wheel of a bus used to transport inmates, was on his way to a detention centre. His colleague Robert Corriveau was in a passenger seat. The bus came to a stop on Tricentenaire Blvd. in Pointe aux Trembles at a railway crossing when bullets started flying.
Paul Fontaine, 40, is accused of killing Rondeau and attempting to kill Corriveau, who narrowly escaped being hit.The jury has been told that Fontaine received his patch, or full membership in the Hells Angels, months after the shooting.
The photos show that shots were fired into the bus from two directions. Seven shots were fired into the windshield, and most appeared to have been aimed at the driver's side. Five bullets were fired into the bus door, including a couple that struck the door frame. Corriveau was seated inches behind the door.The jury was also shown the inside of the bus, which showed that Rondeau lost a lot of blood before ambulance technicians arrived.The Superior Court trial, at the Montreal courthouse and presided over by Justice Marc David, is expected to last four months, during which evidence will be broken up into four stages. The first, which the jury is currently hearing, involves evidence from the day of the shooting.The second involves the testimony of Stéphane (Godasse) Gagné. The Hells Angels underling turned informant after he was charged, in December 1997, with being one of the people who killed Rondeau.The third stage will deal with Fontaine's disappearance after the shooting and his eventual discovery, in Quebec City, seven years later. The same stage will touch on the 1998 death of André (Toots) Tousignant, a Hells Angel believed to have been in on the plot to kill the prison guards.Prosecutor Randall Richmond has told the jury that Fontaine, Tousignant and Gagné were all working under the orders of Hells Angels leader Maurice (Mom) Boucher in a plot to disrupt and intimidate the justice system.The fourth stage will be used to present evidence intended to support Gagné's testimony.
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