Arrested because he had not presented himself at the Court, a Montrealer was also wanted … in Belgium, where he had to serve more than 10 years in prison for filmed collective rape and flights in Airbnb housing.
Stéphane Katshuva Paluku, 25, was arrested at the end of June by Montreal police when he was in a parked vehicle from which a strong cannabis smell emerged.
The patrollers then discovered that he had not appeared at the Montreal courthouse in order to appear in an assault file.
In September 2024, Katshuva Paluku and three other men would have made advances to two unknowns that were in downtown Montreal.
“They do not wish to chat with them and make them understand politely,” said police officer David Thivierge, who participated in the intervention on Thursday morning.
A suspect would have launched water on women and insulted them, while Katshuva Paluku, who would have been poisoned by alcohol, would have given a blow to the face of one of them.
Sought by Belgium
When the agents passed the handcuffs in June, they did not know that he was also wanted in Belgium.
A few days earlier, the RCMP had received a request from the European country in order to find Stéphane Katshuva Paluku.
Stéphane Katshuva Paluku was wanted in Belgium for the group rape of a minor and thefts.
Photo filed in court
The man, from the Congo, had been sentenced to eight years in prison for having raped a minor in a group at Halloween 2020 in the Brussels region. The victim had been drugged with hilarious and drunk gases. Sexual assault had been filmed and shared on Snapchat.
This is a “repugnant and shocking for the community,” said judge Daniel Royer on Thursday.
Katshuva Paluku, considered by the Belgian authorities as “the leader of an urban gang in Brussels”, had left the country before the end of the appeal legal proceedings.
He had also never attended a trial in another file for flights to Belgium, where he was sentenced last year to 40 months in prison. He was accused of having provided access codes or Airbnb housing keys where he worked so that an accomplice could commit thefts in the absence of the occupants.
“I am not guilty, I have never been made aware of it. […] I’ve never done these things, ”said Katshuva Paluku since the accused box on Thursday.
Mortgage
He had arrived in Canada under his true identity before this conviction with a visitor visa in hand and he now says they work as a mortgage specialist for a Canadian financial institution.
J. Daniel Royer refused to release him for the rest of the procedures, even if he was ready to comply with a house arrest and deposit certain sums.
“The guarantees offered by Mr. Katshuva Paluku are insufficient to reassure the court. He demonstrated that only his detention can ensure his presence in court, ”said the judge at the Superior Court.
Stéphane Katshuva Paluku will be back in court in August for the rest of the extradition procedures.
