Three accused deny roles in high-profile B.C. gang murder conspiracy case
Rabih “Robby” Alkhalil and Dean Michael Wiwchar are charged with the first-degree murder of Sandip Duhre at Vancouver’s Sheraton Wall Centre on Jan. 17, 2012.
In their opening statements to a jury, lawyers for three men accused in a high-profile gang murder case on Tuesday denied their clients were involved in the crimes.
Rabih “Robby” Alkhalil and Dean Michael Wiwchar are charged with the first-degree murder of Sandip Duhre at Vancouver’s Sheraton Wall Centre on Jan. 17, 2012.
Larry Ronald Amero is charged that he conspired together with Alkhalil, Wiwchar and others to murder Duhre.
Amero, Alkhalil and Wiwchar are also charged with conspiring to murder Sukh Dhak.
In their opening, the Crown said it is their theory that the three men committed the crimes in retaliation for
The Crown said the three men were members of a group called the Wolfpack that was engaged in a rivalry with Duhre, Dhak and others at the time.
Richard Fowler, a lawyer for Alkhalil, told a B.C. Supreme Court jury on Tuesday that they should take note of the fact that his client had pleaded not guilty to the offences and was entitled to a presumption of innocence.
The defence position was that Alkhalil was neither involved in the Duhre murder nor the conspiracy to murder Dhak, he said.
“It will be our position that at the end of this trial you will have a reasonable doubt, which means you will not be sure that Mr. Alkhalil is guilty of either offence.”
The Crown’s theory is that Wiwchar was hired as a hitman and fatally shot Duhre while the victim was dining at a restaurant at the Wall Centre and that Alkhalil was also present and acted as a spotter.
Fowler said he and his client will firmly
dispute the suggestion that Alkhalil was present at the time, and urged jurors to listen carefully to the evidence.
Simon Buck, a lawyer for Wiwchar, told the jury that they would be seeing some disturbing photos of Duhre after he was killed, and cautioned them to keep their emotions in check since murder is “inherently violent.”
He indicated that much of the evidence surrounding the shooting will not be disputed, and he urged the jury to focus on the issue of who killed the victim.
“This is where the doubt lies. By the time you get to the end of this trial, we will show you that it was not Mr. Wiwchar who committed the murder.”
Marc-Antoine Rock, a lawyer for Amero, noted that the main evidence against his client had to do with email conversations extracted from BlackBerry phones.
“Our defence will rely on the fact that even if you come to the conclusion that Mr. Amero was an occasional user, or even the main user, of some of those electronic devices, it doesn’t mean he was the only user, and it doesn’t mean that he sent all messages extracted from that device,” said Rock.
After hearing all of the evidence, there will be a reasonable doubt about his client’s culpability, he said.
The Crown called its first witness after the defence opening statements. The trial is anticipated to run for six months.