The bail hearing for the alleged driver in a hit-and-run incident that claimed the life of teenager Ronia Mansourian was postponed for a second time Friday.
Robert Belanger, 22, faces charges of dangerous driving causing death, and leaving the scene of an accident.
Belanger's bail hearing was originally scheduled for Sept. 7, but his lawyer and the Crown both agreed to postpone it to Friday before postponing it again to next Friday, Sept. 24 at 9:30 a.m.
"We have to prove he's dangerous," prosecutor Jean-Pascal Boucher said on Sept. 7.
Belanger arrived in court Friday wearing a white t-shirt and flashed a quick smile to about a dozen of his friends sitting in the courtroom. His appearance was very brief, with lawyers agreeing that more evidence had to be gathered before proceeding.
Dozens of Ronia's friends and classmates from Saint Maxime high school held a vigil march to the courthouse when Belanger last appeared there, but there was no such show of support on Friday.
Ronia, 15, was struck by a car on Sept. 3 on Levesque Blvd. as she was on her lunch break from school. The collision hurled her into a city bus that had stopped on the narrow road to let her cross.
The driver of the hit-and-run vehicle sped off, and roughly 12 hours later, Belanger turned himself into the police.
Ronia died the next morning of her injuries.
Recent court cases have demonstrated that drivers accused of hit and run are unlikely to get bail. Of note in Belanger's case are his prior convictions for theft, drug possession, and leading police on a high speed case, the fact he was driving with a suspended licence, and is currently out on bail while awaiting trial for fraud.
If convicted, Belanger faces a maximum of sentence of life in prison.
