Inmate Dave Gingras-Gaudet, 39, pleaded guilty Tuesday, two years after he managed to escape from a Quebec detention facility.
Arrested during a manhunt in February 2022, Gingras-Gaudet was imprisoned for five months at the detention center on Rue de la Faune, in Saint-Émile, when he carried out his plan on July 21, 2022.
At about 8:20 p.m., prison guards realized the inmate was missing, said Crown prosecutor, M’ Alexandre Morency.
Investigations revealed that the accused had enlisted the help of accomplices and together they had cut the fence of the compound, formerly known as “Orsainville Prison”.
towards a wooded area
“He went through a hole in the fence to get to another fence, which is without barbed wire, which he jumped over to get to the wooded area,” Mr Morency said.
Surveillance cameras captured him as he ran to reach this second fence.
“It took several minutes […] So that we realised that the gentleman had fled, even though it had been more than half an hour,” underlined the defence lawyer, Mie Adele Juster.
According to what the Sûreté du Québec indicated at the time, the fugitive would have taken advantage of an exit to the outer courtyard of the building to escape.
in a two day rush
Gingras-Gaudet was found two days later, on the evening of July 23, 2022, at Couche-Tard on Rue Seigneurial in Beauport.
He was apprehended by the SQ Tactical Intervention Group and brought back inside the walls. No one was injured, although paramedics had to rush to the scene to assist the convenience store clerk who suffered a panic attack, the report said. Newspaper,
At that time, the matter of two associates had come to light. As far as we could find out, their cases are still pending.
he clears his files
On Tuesday, Gingras-Gaudet apparently wanted to dispose of his files.
In addition to pleading guilty to two charges in connection with his escape, he also pleaded guilty to various offences that occurred prior to his flight, including possession of a prohibited firearm and possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking in them.
He also admitted his involvement in two counts of vandalism with criminal intent and theft of a motor vehicle.
The parties will meet next November to make a joint sentencing proposal.
Though much smaller in scale, the incident was reminiscent of the Hollywood movie-style helicopter flight of three dangerous drug smugglers over the same compound 10 years earlier.
Serge Pomerleau, Denis Lefebvre, and Yves Denis were found two weeks later in a luxury condo tower in Old Montreal.