Murder accused says he left fingerprint on a different day
Suspected shooter denies being captured on video killing 31-year-old victim
Havard McKenzie told a jury it’s no surprise his fingerprint was found on a glass door at the Garden Restaurant because it was one of his favourite places to eat.
“I know that I was there because my fingerprint was found on the glass, so at some point in time, I was there at that restaurant,” he testified Friday in Superior Court. But McKenzie repeatedly insisted he didn’t leave it there early Nov. 16, 2014, after shooting Tariq Mohammed, 31, as he lay on the floor at the front of the Dundas St. W. restaurant.
He also denied he is one of the men captured by surveillance video robbing Mohammed’s friend of his gold chains near the restaurant’s washrooms, moments before two gunmen blasted bullets into unarmed Mohammed — also on video.
“Is that you in the video, are you shooter number two,” asked defence lawyer Gary Grill, tapping his pen against the screen where the graphic footage has repeatedly played.
“No, it’s not me,” said the 27year-old who pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.
McKenzie testified he has no recollection when he might have left his pinky fingerprint on the inside of the glass door, near the spot surveillance footage shows the second shooter touching as he fled the scene.
“The first time I had to re- member was 10 months after” the murder when he was arrested, he said.
Under cross-examination by Crown attorney Liz Jackson, McKenzie said he can say with certainty he was there in April 2014, when he and his brother celebrated their birthdays. Jackson noted there are six months between April and November.
“And somehow your fingerprint managed to stay on that door, for that length of time, despite the door being cleaned daily with Windex and paper towels,” Jackson said.
McKenzie told Jackson he didn’t say the “last time was in April.”
“It could have been anything in between ... I’m not sure, I can’t give you a date,” he said.
“I’m not prepared to come up here and lie to the jury and go ‘oh I was here on this date’ because then that would be a lie. It wouldn’t be honest. I don’t remember. I could have been there the night before,” he continued. “I wasn’t there the night of the murder. I didn’t do that. ”
Jurors heard Friday that McKenzie has a criminal record for possession of property obtained by crime and failing to comply with a court order. He’s a father of a 5-year-old girl and has worked intermittently since dropping out of school in Grade 10.
The trial continues Monday.