After 14 years, ‘teardrop tattoo’ case ends with a guilty plea

Warren Abbey, shown on his arrest date, March 10, 2005.

A Toronto man pleaded guilty Monday to manslaughter, ending a 14-year legal saga around the significance of the teardrop tattoo under his right eye.

Warren Abbey’s plea brings an end to a tangled story that began in 2007, when he was acquitted of first-degree murder in the 2004 fatal shooting of Simeon Peter, 19, in Scarborough. At that time, the trial judge ruled the Crown could not call an expert witness to testify that Abbey’s facial teardrop tattoo might have meant he killed someone.

The Crown appealed and at a second trial in 2011, the expert, Ottawa sociologist Mark Totten, was allowed to testify. That time, Abbey was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

But last summer, Ontario’s top court ordered Abbey to stand trial for a third time, finding Totten’s evidence to be unreliable and his testimony full of “inaccuracies” and even “falsehoods.”

On Monday in Ontario Superior Court, the need for that third trial ended when Abbey admitted shooting the victim, believing he was a member of the rival Galloway Boys who had robbed him.

Abbey was affiliated with a Scarborough street gang known as the Malvern Crew. Peter, who went by the nickname Sammy, was not known to police and not known to be associated with any gangs.

Abbey, now 32 years old, has served 10 years, nine months and 22 days in custody, and was sentenced to time served plus one day. He was released Monday, a fact Peter’s family members drew attention to in their victim-impact statement. The family wrote they have come to terms with losing a “funny, lovable, kind” and down to earth person, but all these years later, “the wound has been torn open and we are forced to relive this nightmare.

“With the rewriting of this ugly chapter our family for the rest of our lives now will have to wonder when we’re out in public if we will ever be in a situation where we have to face him, Warren Abbey the man who admitted shooting Sammy ... Sammy was robbed of his life our family was robbed of life and the accused, Warren Abbey gets his back.”

According to the agreed facts filed in court, Abbey told a wit- ness on that day he followed the victim, who “turned and appeared to be trying to pull a gun out of his pant area.

“Abbey, in response, based on past knowledge of incidents with Galloway Boys members, pulled out a firearm and fired several shots in the male’s direction,” the statement says.

“The male was seen to run into a nearby driveway and crouch down. Abbey moved forward to see what the male was doing and at the same time fired one more shot, turned and ran away from the area.”

In an interview last year with the Star, Peter’s parents and two sisters said the teardrop issue has overshadowed their loss.He was looking for a job that day in 2004 so he could save and open a clothing line.

“He would say to my relatives, he said ‘once I start working, Momma can stay home,’ ” Peter’s mother Marcelina said.