Paper toss lands man on probation
Premier targeted during vigil for Orlando victims
A Quebec Court judge has sentenced a man to a conditional discharge for having tossed a balled up piece of paper at Premier Philippe Couillard during his speech at a vigil last year.
The decision means Esteban Torres Wicttorff, 21, will eventually be left with no criminal record for having assaulted the premier. But as Judge Daniel Bédard noted in his decision on Friday, the record of the crime will remain on the public record for three years after Torres has completed the 18 months of probation that is part of his conditional sentence. Torres will also have to carry out community service as part of the sentence.
Crown prosecutor Amélie Rivard had requested a sentence that would remain on the public record as a means to dissuade other from carrying out what she characterized as an attack on democracy.
“Despite the term used (in the Criminal Code), it is not about erasing the crime the accused committed, at least for the next three years,” the judge said.
The incident occurred on June 16, 2016, at a park in the Gay Village where thousands had gathered for a vigil for victims of a mass shooting in Orlando, Fla., where, four days earlier, a gunman walked into the Pulse nightclub and killed 49 people. Torres, a well-known activist in the transgender community, was also a speaker at the vigil and was standing near Couillard when he threw something at the premier while shouting, “The revolution has begun.”
Couillard’s security guards rushed him away, but the premier was not injured. The object was never found, but when Torres entered his guilty plea earlier this month, Bédard was told it was a balled up piece of paper. Earlier this month, Torres told the court he became upset when Couillard referred to Montreal as “an inclusive city” during his speech.
Torres was supposed to have a one-day trial on Oct. 6, but he opted instead to plead guilty to one count of assault with a weapon. A second charge, of causing a disturbance at a public gathering, was placed under a stay of proceedings.
Bédard noted in his decision that Couillard was not injured.
“To assault someone to express disagreement after a person has said something is a crime and what’s more, if that person is a politician, the assault becomes even more a political act that is not justified and not justifiable, accepted or acceptable.”