Brothers were expelled from Montreal Casino shortly before stabbing death, court hears
The two brothers on trial for murder before a jury at the Montreal courthouse were expelled from the Montreal Casino because the two women they were partying with pocketed poker chips they assumed were free. Shortly afterward, Conor Patrick O’Loughlin was stabbed to death in his apartment.
Gabriella Sanchez, one of the two women who were with brothers Chad and Jayden Pinel before O’Loughlin, 27, was killed two years ago in his Sud-Ouest borough apartment, said on Monday that she, her friend and roommate Isabella Aguilar and the accused were “expelled” from the casino over what she characterized as a misunderstanding.
O’Loughlin was stabbed to death around 4:30 a.m. on May 18, 2024, inside the building where he lived on St-Antoine St. W. Chad and Jayden Pinel, 22 and 19 respectively, are charged with second-degree murder. Based on the evidence heard so far, it appears O’Loughlin was killed during a fight after he knocked on Sanchez’s door to complain about loud music being played during the early morning hours.
Sanchez and Aguilar have told the court they and the brothers went to a bar in Old Montreal and then the casino before they returned to the apartment where the women lived.
While being cross-examined by defence lawyer Isabella Teolis, Sanchez established that all four were expelled from the casino shortly before 4 a.m., or a little more than a half hour before O’Loughlin was stabbed.
Sanchez said she placed more than a few poker chips inside her purse while all four were at what appeared in a video to be a blackjack table.
She confirmed this after Teolis asked her to watch images, recorded by a surveillance camera above the table, as she clearly grabbed chips one by one and placed them in her purse next to her hip. She repeatedly referred to the chips as “free chips” while explaining why she thought it was OK to place them in her purse.
When Aguilar testified last week, she also referred to the items as “free chips,” but she said the group was asked to leave as the brothers argued over a bet they lost.
Sanchez said a security guard confronted the group about the chips and that all four were ordered to leave, even if the brothers did not pocket any of the chips.
“Did you throw (the chips) in a garbage can?” Teolis asked.
“Yes. I didn’t want to be punished for that. It was a reaction,” Sanchez said. “They were free chips. I didn’t understand it.”
The witness said she had the impression the chips were free based on something the dealer at the table told the group. She also said she had no idea she was not supposed to walk away from the table without having gambled with the chips.
While questioned further by Teolis, Sanchez conceded that some of the chips could be seen in a photo taken by a Montreal police crime scene technician inside the bathroom in her apartment after the victim was killed.
It appears Teolis’s strategy behind the questions about the poker chips is to challenge the witness’s credibility. Sanchez and Aguilar have told the jury they saw the Pinel brothers arguing with the victim before O’Loughlin was stabbed. Both of the women told the jury that they did not witness the stabbing and that when the brothers returned to Sanchez’s apartment, they grabbed liquor bottles and left before the police arrived.
In another video shown to the jury, both of the women could be seen outside the apartment building holding open a door and a gate to let first responders into the building after the victim was stabbed.
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