Charges stayed in Six Nations murder case
Three charged with being accessory after the fact in shooting death of Dustin Monture in 2017
Charges have been stayed against three people accused of trying to cover up the shooting death of a 27-year-old Six Nations man.
This has left Dustin Monture’s mother feeling her quest for justice is at square one after watching the case lurch through Brantford court since her son was murdered in February 2017.
“It is terrible,” Roxanne Farmer-Monture said Monday. “I feel I’m back to the beginning.”
Sharon Hill, Jeffrey Martin and Aaron Martin — Monture’s former associates — were charged with accessory after the fact to murder in his death.
Charges are typically stayed when the prospect of conviction is low. The Crown, however, can revisit charges within a year of staying them. In this case, there was a big hole in the investigation from the start: nobody was ever charged with pulling the trigger. Hill’s son, Darryl Shawn Hill, was named in a court filing as the alleged shooter, but never formally charged. Then, on May 28, he died suddenly at the age of 22. At the time, Staff Sgt. Dave Smoke of Six Nations Police said the death didn’t appear suspicious.
On Monday, Sharon Hill’s lawyer, Jaime Stephenson, said she knew the case against her client wasn’t strong. Stephenson said the Crown in Brantford stayed the charge against Hill due to a lack of evidence.
“Though it is not absolutely necessary for a case of accessory to be proven,” she added, “it certainly helps if there is a conviction or at the very least someone charged with the actual murder.”
Hill’s case had been scheduled to proceed to a preliminary hearing in August.
“I can only say that this has obviously been a very difficult time for all parties involved and for Ms. Hill I am glad there has been some closure for her,” Stephenson said.
Lawyers for Jeffrey Martin and Aaron Martin couldn’t be reached for comment Monday. A representative of Brantford Crown’s office responded but declined to comment.
Monture was reportedly found with head injuries on the front lawn of Sharon Hill’s Tuscarora Road home in Ohsweken on Feb. 21, 2017. At the time, Six Nations police said “Good Samaritans” — who were never named — dropped Monture off at West Haldimand General Hospital in Hagersville. It wasn’t until he was flown to Hamilton General Hospital that doctors realized he had been shot in the head.
Farmer-Monture and her family have been critical of how police carried out the investigation. The family arranged to view hospital footage that showed people dropping off her son, hired a private investigator for a time, and offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to a conviction.
Six Nations Police didn’t respond to a request for comment Monday.
Monture had battled drug addiction and done time for auto theft and break-ins. However, once back home, he resolved to get his life back on track, committing to being a father to his children and turning his artistic talents into a business, family members have said.
Farmer-Monture has been frustrated that nobody has come forward with information about the murder.
“I wish they would come forward now. They need to put themselves in our shoes; see how they would feel if it was their loved one. We deserve closure and we don’t have that. We can’t even begin the grieving process.”