The man prosecuting Quebec City mosque shooter Alexandre Bissonnette says the 28-year-old should spend the rest of his days in prison.
The Crown informed Quebec Superior Court Justice François Huot today it is asking that Bissonnette be sentenced to life in prison without eligibility for parole for 150 years, 25 years for each count of first-degree murder he has pleaded guilty to.
It would be the harshest sentence ever rendered in Canadian history since the abolition of the death penalty.
"This unprecedented crime merits a punishment that reflects its horrible implications," said prosecutor Thomas Jacques in a Quebec City courtroom Tuesday, arguing Bissonnette had planned his crime and targeted a place of worship, "a sacred, holy place."
Impassive during Crown plea
Six men died after Bissonnette went on a shooting rampage inside a Quebec City mosque in January 2017, injuring five others. Thirty-five people, including four children, witnessed the shooting that evening.
Dressed in a blue shirt, Bissonnette remained impassive as he listened to Jacques, but he broke down and sobbed as the prosecutor started going over the events of Jan. 29, 2017.
Referring back to court testimony and documents presented during sentencing hearings in April, Jacques argued that Bissonnette had carefully planned out his crime.
Armed with a .223-calibre rifle and a 9-millimetre Glock pistol, Bissonnette was carrying a total of 108 bullets when he walked up to the mosque as Sunday prayers were wrapping up.
His first two victims had just left the mosque.
"Fate could have made him turn around," Jacques said, describing how Bissonnette's rifle jammed, forcing him to abandon it in the snow.
The defence argued on Monday that Bissonnette had in fact forgotten to take off the safety catch.
"Whatever the reason," Jacques said, "instead of being discouraged, he showed no mercy," as he pulled the Glock pistol from his pocket and gunned down Ibrahima Barry and Mamadou Tanou Barry.
Jacques insisted Bissonnette's cold determination was made clear in surveillance video played in the courtroom in April.
In it, Bissonnette shoots randomly into the crowded room, despite the fact children were running for cover.
"Bissonnette wanted to leave behind as many victims as possible," said Jacques.
'The court cannot trust him'
Jacques went on to describe how the crime had resulted in dozens of victims, leaving six women widowed and 17 children fatherless, and fractured the social fabric of Quebec and Canadian society.
"This wave of hate caused harm that we cannot even measure yet," said Jacques.
He told Huot that Bissonnette lied several times and could not be trusted if he were to go before the Parole Board of Canada one day.
Jacques said even though Bissonnette had apologized to his victims when he entered his guilty plea, he lied in saying he was "not Islamophobic or racist."
Testimony from psychiatric experts Bissonnette met in the months that followed the shooting showed he said he had been consumed by the idea that religious fanatics were inside the mosque and convinced that by "killing one or two, he could save hundreds."
Defence rests its case
Bissonnette's defence team completed its arguments Tuesday morning, trying to persuade Huot to impose concurrent sentences for Bissonnette instead of consecutive sentences, which would make him eligible for parole in 25 years.
Defence lawyer Charles-Olivier Gosselin called the amended article of the Criminal Code which allows for consecutive sentences "deeply flawed," because it neglects the principle of rehabilitation in the Canadian justice system.
"We must not minimize the fact that 25 years out of a lifetime is a long time," Gosselin said in his closing arguments, reminding the judge that with a life sentence, Bissonnette would have to answer to the Parole Board of Canada for the rest of his life.
Given his young age — 27 at the time of the murders — there is a chance he could reintegrate into society one day, his team pleaded.
Gosselin argued that Bissonnette was not the kind of criminal the federal government was targeting when it adopted the controversial amendment in 2011 which opened the door to multiple murder sentences being served back to back.
The defence submitted 17 Canadian court cases in which serial killers had mapped out their crimes ahead of time and showed no remorse afterward.
Bissonnette also collaborated with the justice system, his lawyers said, surrendering only moments after the shooting.
"This is a person who is suffering, who committed very serious crimes," Gosselin said.
After the Crown's sentencing arguments, if Huot determines there are grounds for imposing consecutive sentences on Bissonnette, both parties will then embark on constitutional arguments Wednesday.
The former president of the mosque, Mohamed Labidi, said a 150-year sentence "is what the families and the community are hoping for."