Man gets sentenced to 12 years for firearm offences

A man convicted last year of discharging a firearm while ordering his girlfriend to have an abortion and then renting the same gun to a woman later found dead in Laval was sentenced Monday to a 12-year prison term.

In a 38-page decision delivered at the Montreal courthouse, Quebec Court Judge Dennis Galiatsatos wrote that the mystery behind Albano Pierre's current status in Canada and a lack of evidence that he plans to be rehabilitated any time soon contributed to his decision on the lengthy prison term.

The Crown sought a prison term of between 10 and 12 years, while Pierre's lawyer argued a sentence of seven or eight years was more appropriate. During the sentencing stage of the case, Pierre's former girlfriend told the court that during the last three months of the pregnancy she began having nightmares.

Galiatsatos wrote that he learned little about Pierre beyond how he is now 33 years old and is not a Canadian citizen.

“Is he a permanent resident of Canada? Is he a refugee or someone asking for asylum? Does he have status anywhere? How long has he been in Canada? Does he still have family in Haiti? We know nothing,” the judge wrote, noting the unanswered questions left it impossible to determine whether the lengthy sentence will have an impact on whether Canada eventually decides to deport him.

“There is no evidence of rehabilitation in this case. Let's recall that the defence was completely mute on all aspects of the offender's life.”

The judge sentenced Pierre on eight of the 15 charges he was found guilty of last year. Most notably, Pierre was sentenced to a seven-year prison term for discharging a firearm and five years for trafficking a firearm. The sentences are to be served consecutively. With time served factored into the sentence, Pierre has eight years and three months left to serve as of Monday.

The case against Pierre involved three separate events. The first took place on Feb. 16, 2021, inside Pierre's Montreal apartment. Pierre and his girlfriend argued after he demanded she have an abortion. He felt it was too soon in their relationship to have a baby and, when it became clear the woman wanted to keep the baby, he paced for about 15 minutes before he fired off his .22 calibre revolver.

Days later, Pierre rented the revolver to a woman named Marly Édouard. On Feb. 21, 2021, her body was found in the parking lot of her residence in Laval. Pierre's revolver was found next to her body and the Sûreté du Québec determined her death wasn't the result of a criminal act.

The third event occurred on March 13, 2021, when Pierre held his girlfriend against her will inside a hotel room in Nominingue, Que., and she called the police.