Mario Lafontaine continued his testimony that began Tuesday afternoon.

He explained to the court that after the accused shot the victim on the night of January 20, Carl Lévesque, Maxime Labrie and Steve Lévesque wrapped Maxime Dugas-Lepage’s body with a blanket that they tied with personal laces.

They would have deposited the victim’s body in Steve Lévesque’s car.

Mario Lafontaine added that they would have cleaned up the blood left on the scene using cleaning products and paper towels from Steve Lévesque’s house.

Still according to Mr. Lafontaine’s testimony, four men went to Rimouski in two vehicles: the one by Steve Lévesque and the one driven by Maxime Dugas-Lepage on January 20.

Mario Lafontaine said he was the driver of Steve Lévesque’s vehicle, where the victim’s body was found. The accused would have sat on the passenger side. The witness explained that he was driving the vehicle, even though he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol, because Steve Lévesque allegedly told him he did not have a driver’s license.

They were about to leave Maxime Dugas-Lepage’s car in the parking lot of a hotel in Rimouski.

Steve Lévesque will stay at Rimouski with his car, while Carl Lévesque, Maxime Labrie and Mario Lafontaine will return to Sainte-Anne-des-Monts with a cousin of Maxime Labrie.

Later in his testimony, Mario Lafontaine said he did not know what happened to the victim’s body that night. The witness said he left Rimouski to return to Sainte-Anne-des-Monts shortly after.

Mario Lafontaine explained that, when he got home, around 6 a.m. on January 21, 2020, he continued cleaning with Maxime Labrie to erase the traces of blood that would have remained on the floor.

The witness continued his account by saying he left to work at his brother’s hardware store before returning home early in the evening.

He asserted that, around 6:30 pm, the victim’s brother, Jean-François Dugas-Lepage, would have gone to his home to ask him if he knew where Maxime was.

Mario Lafontaine explained in court that he then lied to the victim’s brother by telling him that, to his knowledge, Maxime Dugas-Lepage went to his house the day before and then he went snowmobiling with Steve.

The witness also pointed out that, in the evening, five men would go to his home to again ask where the victim was. Mario Lafontaine told the court he again lied to these men by telling them he did not know where Maxime Dugas-Lepage was. According to the witness, three of these men were from Matane.

The next day, January 22, 2020, around 1 pm, two Sûreté du Québec (SQ) officials reportedly showed up at Mario Lafontaine’s workplace. According to his testimony, the police told him to go to the station to give a statement.

Mr. Lafontaine maintained that he initially lied to police about the events that allegedly took place at his home on January 20, 2020 because, in part, he feared retaliation.

On the other hand, the witness confirmed that after talking with the police for about an hour, he ended up admitting to them that Maxime Dugas-Lepage was dead. Do you really want to know? He is deadhe would have told the police at this time, still according to his account of the court facts.

Mario Lafontaine would have continued his statement to investigators assigned to major crimes. He indicated to the court that he, on that day, was under the influence of cocaine and alcohol and that he had been in this state since the night of January 20.

Mario Lafontaine then described in court that he tried to go home that night, but his home was barricaded by police.

He said he went to his mother’s house. Emotionally, the witness told the court that at the time he felt he was not there more life. Her brother, who was at her mother’s house, allegedly told her to seek medical treatment and took her back to the Sainte-Anne-des-Monts police station.

Mr. Lafontaine explained that he underwent a rehab that ended on February 20, 2020.

He said he contacted officials again in March, telling them he was clearer than when he spoke to them in January.

The witness said he confirmed to police in March that Carl Lévesque was at his home on the night of Jan. 20. He also told police that Maxime Labrie drank a blue type of drink. Gatorade house that night.

Cross-examination

The witness was examined in the afternoon by Steve Lévesque’s lawyer, Pierre L’Écuyer.

Defendant’s attorney asked to clarify the details of his testimony to Mario Lafontaine who seemed skeptical and even resisted some of his answers. Judge François Huot had to ask on several occasions for the witness to answer the defense attorney’s questions.

Some of these doubts seem to require more concentration from some jury members who frown as they try to fully understand the witness’s answers.

Mario Lafontaine notably failed to mention Carl Lévesque’s presence with the police in his first KGB-type condemned statement on January 23, 2020.

The defendant’s lawyer also asked the witness if he received cocaine from Steve Lévesque after he allegedly drove his vehicle from Sainte-Anne-des-Monts to Rimouski with the victim’s body. Mario Lafontaine replied that he received a few grams of cocaine from Steve Lévesque that night.

Maître L’Écuyer also confirmed in the afternoon that the jury will decide on the credibility of the witness.

The trial continues on Thursday. The Crown must call several other witnesses. About 30 of them are supposed to form Crown evidence.