It bails out of 9 years in prison for 14 bank robberies

Valerie Gonthier

Friday, December 15, 2017 19:00

UPDATE
Friday, December 15, 2017 19:00

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Since a bank-robber of bank has threatened to the point of a revolver, a cashier is so traumatized that she forbade his young children to play the robbers, she testified after her attacker pleaded guilty.

“Since this event, I have no pleasure, I do the panic attacks. I can no longer go out alone with my children. The simple fact of the checkout of a store is stressing me “, launched in crying the cashier of 38 years, in court.

Paul Deschamps, 64, has been sentenced this week to a sentence of nine years in detention. Between July 2015 and February last, he robbed 14 banks. And he has threatened at least 21 committed to financial institutions by pointing a revolver to lead non-functional in their direction.

“This is a hold-up, aweille, give me your money,” he said to the cashier on February 4, 2016, at Marieville, before save with 6700 $.

It was only the branches of the National Bank, everywhere on the South Shore of Montreal. The amount of loot stolen varied from one time to another. In total, he was able to pocket more than 38 800 $.

One of the victims even today traumatized by the attack, he explained to the court have had to change jobs, ” too nervous to work in a bank “.

Others have confessed to be constantly on their guard. “I’m afraid of everyone, especially those who wear a cap “, testified a victim.

Face hidden

During his flights, Deschamps was hiding a part of his face by wearing a cap, sunglasses, a mask, a balaclava or a neck warmer. At one time, it is also glued a fake mustache. He was arrested on the 21st of February last, during its flight.

The sentence of nine years imprisonment which was hit Deschamps was a suggestion shared between the defence and the Crown prosecutor.

“At the age he has, he has no history of the judiciary. Yet it has some of the robberies during one year and a half, at a frequency similar to that in which a citizen pays his rent, ” said the Crown prosecutor, Mr. Simon Lacoste.

The accused has for its part sent to the victim : “excuse me. What I’ve done, this was not good “, he launched.

“This is a man who has already been an asset to the company. It has already worked, was doing volunteer work with children, has already had a family. But, between 2015 and 2017, he found himself alone in the world. The stolen money was quickly spent at the casino, ” added the court, the lawyer of the accused, Rémi Quintal, adding that his client was eating while on a daily basis of the drug lasts.

“Dramatic consequences “

Judge Richard Marleau, of the Court of Québec, endorsed the sentence, and then explained to the victims the principle of individualization of the sentence.

“There seems to be an awareness on the part of mister “, he justified, insisting nevertheless on the drama of the victims who ” were trying to earn a living “.

“You can’t imagine what they went through, not knowing if the other will shoot, it will happen. Sometimes, there are actions you poses that can have consequences much more dramatic that what we may consider “, he lamented.