Prosecution says evidence ‘powerful’ in attempted murder case

Defence bid to shut down trial fails

While conceding there’s a lack of forensic proof linking two Brampton men to the alleged attempted murder of a Windsor nightclub bouncer in 2014, the prosecution argued Thursday that there is other “very powerful, compelling evidence” against them.

Kevin Mantley Nyadu, 22, is charged with attempted murder and five firearm offences in the Oct. 5, 2014 shooting of Devonte Pierce at the Boom Boom Room on Ouellette Avenue. Shadrack Kwame Amankwa, 27, is charged with being an accessory to attempted murder, as well as five firearm offences.

Before the trial of the two men could continue Thursday, Superior Court Justice J. Paul Howard had to first rule on a motion filed earlier by the defence that the Crown had simply not made its case.

The judge ruled, however, there was sufficient evidence for the trial to resume.

The defence called no witnesses of its own, and assistant Crown attorney Tim Kavanagh spent Thursday summing up the prosecution’s case after 12 days of trial testimony that concluded in December. Defence lawyers Julie Santarossa, for Amankwa, and Patricia Brown, for Nyadu, give their closing statements Friday.

The judge stated there was no direct evidence identifying Nyadu as the gunman who shot the 20-yearold Pierce in the back as Boom Boom Room staff were trying to evict a group of patrons shortly after 2:30 a.m.

No fingerprint or DNA evidence linking either accused was discovered on a handgun recovered by police shortly after the shooting.

But Kavanagh argued there was plenty of circumstantial evidence linking the two men to the shooting.

A witness testified at the trial that a man later identified as Nyadu was observed with a firearm in his hand on the dance floor and tucked into his waist. She thought it was a BB gun.

The firearm recovered by police was a prohibited semi-automatic pistol with an overcapacity magazine.

Kavanagh pointed to surveillance tapes recovered in the downtown showing the suspects — among a group of five men tossed out of the club — running down streets to a parking lot where police caught up to them minutes later.

More surveillance footage showed a suspect identified as Amankwa approaching some bushes where police spotted the handgun later linked to a bullet surgically removed from the victim and a casing left behind at the nightclub.

While detained by police, who advised that forensic photographs would be taken, Kavanagh said Amankwa attempted to change his appearance by getting rid of his hair cornrows and removing his distinctive teeth grill, a type of jewelry worn in the mouth.

The judge, while emphasizing he was not making any findings of fact, said aiming a loaded and prohibited weapon at the back of a man’s torso and then firing it at close range in a crowded nightclub is the definition of attempted murder.

“Their sole function is to kill people,” Howard said of the gun that was seized.

In dismissing the defence’s motion to toss out the charges, the judge speculated it was possible the two men “could have been out jogging in the streets at 2:40 a.m.,” and then met up and continued along the same route through the downtown, only to decide to separate at a parking lot at about the same time police arrived and recovered the weapon.

It’s a circumstantial case, Kavanagh said, “but the circumstantial evidence is substantial.”