A Montrealer is sentenced to nine years in prison for brutally assaulting his ex’s new boyfriend and trying to cover his tracks by setting his own vehicle on fire.
“I hope there will be awareness on his part. He’ll have time to think,” the victim told the Journal Thursday at the exit of the Laval courthouse.
Simon Tremblay, 51, had just received a verdict that judge Marc-André Dagenais called “necessarily severe”.
In December 2020, Tremblay’s ex’s new flame was the victim of a “particularly bloody”, “cruel and unprovoked” attack just as he was returning home after a night of drinking.
Tremblay, who had been hiding at the victim’s home in Laval for almost four hours, had hit him violently in the head with a heavy metal object. He then hit him again on the head, this time with a sharp object, and strangled him.
The man who was attacked “mentions that he wants to survive so he can see his daughter again. This last appeal appears to be working as the assailant frees him and leaves the scene, not without giving him a final smack in the face,” Judge Dagenais said.
These multiple blows left the victim in a miserable condition: lacerations that required 64 stitches, multiple fractures to the jaw, head and sinuses, a hole in the cheek, and a concussion.
Hide the tracks
In the days after the attack, police suspicion quickly fell on Simon Tremblay, who didn’t accept the split from his ex. He himself said he was “addicted to it”.
However, the latter quickly began destroying evidence related to the crime, including resetting his cellphone.
The accused’s car was also found burned out two days after the crime. Even so, there were still traces of blood in the vehicle, even after he tried to clean the whole thing with bleach.
Tremblay has always denied the facts and maintained his right to remain silent throughout the trial.
Severe consequences
Since the attack, the victim has suffered from severe headaches and is struggling with a mild post-traumatic syndrome.
He even began psychotherapy, an option he had never considered prior to the crime.
“Born physically for life by the unjust attack he suffered, he lives […] significant psychological consequences that do not seem to want to fade more than two years after the crime,” the court noted.
For her part, Tremblay’s ex-girlfriend “says she lives with the stigma of being the motive for such a violent gesture,” according to the 31-page decision.
She also fears reprisals from Tremblay. Twice in 2021, the latter would have broken those terms by contacting them while at large with an electronic bracelet.
He must therefore appear in court again in March in these cases.
– In collaboration with Antoine Lacroix
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