A frustrated coroner cut off the wide-ranging cross examination of a Montreal police officer who shot and killed teenager Fredy Villanueva.
Justice Andre Perreault stopped police critic Alexandre Popovic from questioning Const. Jean-Loup Lapointe at the Montreal courthouse Tuesday, reporter Stephane Giroux told CTV News at Noon.
"He keeps asking Lapointe questions that are deemed irrelevant," said Giroux.
"That's irritating other lawyers and the coroner who is about to put an end to all of this."
Perreault is looking into the events of Aug. 9, 2008, when Villanueva was shot and killed in Montreal North. The shooting touched off a riot in which businesses were ransacked, fires were set and a police officer was shot in the leg.
Lapointe has been cross-examined for a total of seven days intermittently over the last month, not only by lawyers but also by citizens such as Popovic who have official standing at the inquest.
In February, the corner expressed impatience with defence lawyers, who he said were asking repetitive questions.
Brother to testify
The cross-examination of Lapointe delayed scheduled testimony by the victim's brother, Dany Villanueva. His arrest set off the chain of events that led Lapointe to shoot 18-year-old Fredy.
Also scheduled for this week is a separate deportation hearing for Villanueva at Complexe Guy-Favreau.
The Canadian government wants Villanueva deported to his native Honduras because of several criminal convictions and a pending case for armed robbery.
His lawyer says the deportation hearing could be postponed for a few days or weeks.
The shooting
Dany, Fredy and some other youths were shooting dice in a park when Lapointe and his partner, Stephanie Pilotte arrived on the scene.
The situation degenerated, the officers tried to arrest Dany and Lapointe fired several shots, saying later that Dany was extremely aggressive and had scuffled with him.
Dany has a different version of the events.
Two days after the shooting he told CTV's Tarah Schwartz that police were looking to talk with him in the park and that when he refused Lapointe grabbed him by the neck, tripped him and pushed him to the ground. He says his brother was shot while trying to intervene.
"My brother and our friends saw me, he came over and said ‘what are you doing, let go of my brother, why are you treating like that,' "said Dany.
"After that, all I heard was gunshots, I saw my brother on the ground."
No charges
The coroner can only make recommendations and cannot lay criminal charges.
The Crown has already determined that Lapointe had engaged in justifiable self-defense when he fired the fatal shots.
