Jurors see video of Richard Henry Bain falling to the floor during interrogation

The drama unfolded outside the Metropolis nightclub as then-Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois was inside giving her speech to celebrate the party’s election victory.

Jurors saw the first part of the interrogation video Tuesday and viewed the rest Wednesday.

They witnessed Bain invoking his right to refuse to answer questions and then remaining completely silent for more than two hours. He can often be seen clutching his head with his hands and occasionally sobbing.

Investigator Daniel Prieur asks Bain if his actions had been politically motivated and whether he had been seeking celebrity status. Prieur also mentions Blanchette’s four-year-old daughter and the fact she has just lost her father.

He chides Bain for his lack of remorse and appeals to his sense of values to try to get him to speak.

Toward the end of the questioning, Bain complains of chest pains before falling off his chair and lying there for several minutes.

Bain returned to the stand later on Wednesday and said he thought he was going to die when he felt the chest pains. He also said he told Prieur his perception was inaccurate and that he did indeed feel remorse.

Defence lawyer Alan Guttman said outside the courtroom he believes the video clearly shows his client’s right to silence was not respected and that the interrogation constituted a form of mental cruelty.

“They (the investigators) were there to break him,” Guttman told reporters.

“The first one was either mental cruelty or very close to it. The second one was using psychology, trying to show him, ‘Look Mr. Bain, you’re front-page news, you’re with Celine Dion. You’re bigger than Pauline Marois, (former premier Jean) Charest, but it didn’t work.

“This is a person who was suffering from severe depression. Something happened. He was on medication. As far as I’m concerned, he went over the deep end.”

Guttman previously told the court he will try to show Bain should be found not criminally responsible by way of mental disorder.

The Crown alleges Bain approached the back of the club with a tactical assault rifle and fired a bullet and that the acts were politically driven. Bain has denied any political motive.

Bain testified Tuesday he still has no recollection of the night of the election: he said his last memories are of circling the Metropolis that evening and of having taken several pills earlier that day. The medication, he said, might have been anti-depressants.

His next memory, he said, was the questioning on Sept. 6.

The trial continues Thursday.

“They were there to break him…The first one was either mental cruelty or very close to it. The second one was using psychology, trying to show him, ‘Look Mr. Bain, you’re front-page news, you’re with Celine Dion. You’re bigger than Pauline Marois, (former premier Jean) Charest, but it didn’t work.”

“This is a person who was suffering from severe depression. Something happened. He was on medication. As far as I’m concerned, he went over the deep end.”

Pierre Saint-Arnaud, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Jurors see video of Richard Henry Bain falling to the floor during interrogation

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