Pilot who targeted main Hydro-Quebec transmission lines gets 7-year sentence
Posted December 10, 2018 10:03 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SAINT-JEROME, Que. — A Quebec man who targeted Hydro-Quebec power lines in an aerial attack that left tens of thousands without power in December 2014 has been sentenced to seven years in jail.
Normand Dube, a local entrepreneur, was found guilty in September of using his small plane in what the Crown described as an unprecedented strike on institutions and everyday Quebecers.
Dube was impassive as Quebec court Judge Paul Chevalier handed down his sentence today on three counts of mischief.
The Crown had sought a 10-year sentence — the maximum permitted under the law — for the attack on two power lines northwest of Montreal, described by prosecutors as the jugular and spinal column of the Hydro-Quebec network.
But Chevalier deemed that recommendation was excessive.
The exact method used to create a short-circuit in the Dec. 4, 2014 attack cannot be reported under a publication ban imposed in the interest of national security.
Accordingly, much of the trial took place with the public barred, and the decision finding Dube guilty in September is partially redacted.
Dube’s lawyer had argued for a much shorter sentence — either three years in prison or less than two years in a provincial jail followed by three years probation.
The lawyer, Mario Lavigne, says he will appeal the verdict and sentence and seek bail for his client on Thursday.
The Canadian Press
