A man who tried to kill an associate of Montreal Mafia leader Andrea Scoppa in Dollard des Ormeaux pleaded guilty on Monday to having threatened to kill six people, including a judge, while the attempted murder case was still before the court.

“Regarding the threats, I regret having made them,” Andy Duroseau told Quebec Court Judge Carol Richer at the Montreal courthouse on Monday before he was sentenced for both the threats and for attempting to kill Nicola Valiante, Scoppa’s driver and close associate, while both men were being investigated for cocaine trafficking in 2014.

Scoppa was killed in Pierrefonds in October last year, but the homicide has nothing to do with Duroseau’s case.

Richer agreed with a common suggestion made by prosecutor François Godin and defence lawyer Antonio Cabral that Duroseau be sentenced to an overall prison term of 12 years for attempting to kill Valiante and a pregnant woman who was a passenger in his car when the shooting took place in the West Island on Oct. 3, 2014.

He was also sentenced to a two-year prison term for uttering threats to six people involved in the justice system, including a judge, while he was detained at a provincial detention centre. In 2018, authorities at the detention centre received information that Duroseau began uttering indirect threats that involved several people. A device was placed inside his cell and he was recorded as he threatened to kill six people, including the judge. The people he threatened were identified only by their initials in the indictment filed against Duroseau.

Cabral said his client made the threats after he learned a request would be made to have him declared a dangerous offender, a designation that could include an indefinite prison term. The attorney also said Duroseau reacted emotionally and did not intend to act on his words.

Duroseau also apologized for firing seven shots toward the woman who was seated inside Valiante’s car. Cabral had to remind him that “there was another victim” of the attempted murders. Duroseau appeared somewhat reluctant when he apologized to Valiante as well. Neither of the victims were in the courtroom when Duroseau offered the apology.

Godin said Valiante did not want to make a victim-impact statement and the woman was unsure whether she would present one. In the end, she did not show up for the sentence hearing on Monday.

Richer also agreed that Duroseau should be declared a long-term offender, a designation that will allow the Parole Board of Canada to impose conditions on Duroseau for a period of 10 years after his sentence expires.

When the time Duroseau has already served since his arrest was factored into the sentence, he was left with the prison term of a little more than four years.

pcherry@postmedia.com 

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