‘There is nothing that compares to what he did’
Crown says sentencing in pilot’s attack on Hydro-Québec lines will be ‘historic’
There is no crime that compares to what Normand Dubé did to Hydro-Québec’s power network when he somehow short-circuited two high-tension power lines nearly four years ago, a prosecutor argued at the St-Jérôme courthouse on Wednesday.
“There is nothing that compares to what he did,” Steve Baribeau said of Dubé while seeking the maximum 10-year sentence that accompanies a conviction of mischief.
The prosecutor emphasized that he could find no precedent that compares to how, on Dec. 4, 2014, Dubé used a small airplane to short-circuit two parallel power lines that run north to south.
More than 180,000 customers, including the McGill University Health Centre and the Laval police, were left without power as Hydro-Québec tried to recover from a power surge generated by the short circuit.
A Crown witness said the problem almost caused the entire network to shut down.
“The (power) lines that were designated in this attack were the jugular and the spinal column of Hydro-Québec’s network,” Baribeau said. “What other case touches on eight million people? The sentence should be exemplary, with an exclamation mark.
“What terrorist wouldn’t dream of doing what Mr. Dubé did?”
Baribeau also asked Quebec Court Judge Paul Chevalier to allow the Crown to proceed with the confiscation of the airplane used in the attack.
The prosecutor suggested that Chevalier’s decision on the sentence will be “historic” because no other crime in Canada compares in terms of the number of victims and the loss absorbed by the utility and passed on to its customers.
A report filed earlier said HydroQuébec lost $28.6 million, including $14 million in lost export revenues and more than $10 million because it had to purchase energy from partners in other provinces and the U.S.
The methods used to short circuit the power lines have been placed under a publication ban requested by the attorney general of Canada, based on concerns for national security.
The last witness at the sentence hearing was Marc Lalonde, an investigator with the Terrebonne police who said that a computer owned by Dubé revealed he had collected information and photographs on 29 people with whom he was involved in some form of conflict, including lawyers, customs agents (who penalized him for not properly documenting helicopters he brought across the border) and municipal employees.
Dubé had labelled nine files “a--holes.”
Among those was a Canada Revenue Agency employee whose car stalled after he visited one of Dubé’s aviation businesses. A mechanic who inspected the car said someone had poured acid into his gas tank.
Dubé, 56, a man who designed and sold more than 100 models of small Aerocruiser planes despite only having a high school diploma, was found guilty in September on all three mischief charges, which included two other attempts to attack power lines on the same day.
Dubé also invented a machine that keeps flies out of greenhouses used to grow tomatoes. But, Baribeau argued, the pilot’s intelligence should be counted against his sentence.
“You are in the presence of someone who is anti-social and paranoid. The intelligence of Mr. Dubé makes him more dangerous,” the prosecutor said, calling Dubé’s defence “a fabrication.”
The Crown’s theory throughout the trial is that Dubé’s motivation involved a dispute over HydroQuébec’s right-of-way on land he owns in Ste-Anne-des-Plaines. Baribeau added on Wednesday that Dubé also blamed Hydro for his tax problems.
Defence lawyer Maxime Chevalier conceded that the crimes merit at least a three-year sentence.
“But can I suggest an alternative,” he said, proposing two-years less one day plus three years of probation.
He argued that the Crown had failed to present evidence that Dubé blamed his tax problems on the utility. “It’s clear that Mr. Dubé didn’t like Hydro- Québec,” the defence attorney conceded. “But if he had a distortion (through which he blamed Hydro for tax problems) the Crown didn’t prove this.”
The defence also argued there is no evidence his client intended to shut down the entire network. A retired Hydro- Québec executive testified that the network’s automated reaction is what generated a spike that nearly shut things down across Quebec.
The judge said he will deliver his decision on Dec. 10. Dubé has another pending case at the StJérôme courthouse where he is charged with five counts of arson and 10 of uttering threats.