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The trial of two brothers accused of kidnapping their 17-year-old sister from a restaurant in Kirkland began Tuesday in a Montreal courthouse.

The brothers, ages 25 and 26, are alleged to have activated an Amber Alert after the victim, now 19, was kidnapped on July 26, 2021, while working at B12 Burger on St-Charles Blvd., part from a shopping center next to a Super C grocery store. They forced her into a vehicle that fled.

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When the case was at the bail hearing stage in 2021, a judge imposed a publication ban on the identities of the three men charged in the case, to protect the identity of the victim.

The trial in the Montreal courthouse, before Quebec Court Judge Thierry Nadon, began with both brothers pleading not guilty to charges such as kidnapping, forcible confinement, assault and threats.

In another courtroom on Tuesday, the other defendant, a 25-year-old Pierrefonds resident, pleaded guilty to one count of forcible confinement. In a statement of facts recorded in the court record, the man said he was waiting outside in a Nissan Altima while the brothers kidnapped his sister.

According to the list of facts: “As captured by the establishment’s surveillance cameras, a few seconds later, the victim is seen being physically transported by one of the (brothers) into the defendant’s car. Her brother places her in the back seat of the vehicle, who also occupies the back seat.

“The defendant then drops the victim and his brother near the residence of the victim’s father, where they meet the other (brother), as well as the victim’s mother.”

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Later that night, one of the brothers asked the getaway driver to take their mother to the hospital. The report of the events indicates that the girl’s mother was aware of what happened.

“Before leaving for the hospital, and after an argument between (one of the brothers), the victim’s mother and (the driver), it was agreed that it would be better for the victim to spend the night at (the driver’s) house. in the company of the parents (of the driver) and his sister, whom the victim knew.”

The sentencing phase of the hit-and-run driver’s case will begin at a later date.

Gilles Mailhot, a Montreal police detective, was the first witness called to testify at the trial of the two brothers.

He said that shortly after he was assigned to take charge of the investigation, the getaway driver took the victim to a police station on the West Island. This was shortly after the Amber Alert was issued. The driver was arrested at the scene.

A video of what happened inside the restaurant was shown in court on Tuesday as Mailhot explained the images captured.

“The victim was on the ground,” Mailhot said at one point, describing how the girl struggled.

The trial is expected to take four days to complete.

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