Defendants acquitted in downtown shooting
Nyadu, Amankwa found not guilty in wounding of Boom Boom Room bouncer
Two Brampton men accused in the shooting of a bouncer at a downtown Windsor nightclub in 2014 walked out of court free men Thursday, all charges against them dismissed.
Kevin Mantley Nyadu, 23, stood trial for attempted murder, as well as five firearm offences. Shadrack Kwame Amankwa, 27, was charged with being an accessory to attempted murder. Amankwa was additionally charged with firearm offences and breaching a weapons prohibition imposed after being previously convicted of cocaine trafficking.
“The presumption of innocence should never be taken for granted,” said defence lawyer Patricia Brown, who represented Nyadu.
Speaking on behalf of lawyer Julie Santarossa who represented Amankwa, Brown said, “We believed our clients were innocent.”
Boom Boom Room bouncer Devonte Pierce was ejecting a group of men that included Nyadu out of the Ouellette Avenue nightclub in the early morning hours of Oct. 5, 2014, when he was shot in the back.
He required emergency surgery to remove a nine-millimetre bullet that damaged his liver and kidney.
He testified at trial he could not identify the shooter.
Amankwa and Nyadu were arrested in a parking lot on Park Street West and Victoria Avenue within five minutes of the shooting.
In bushes nearby, police found a loaded, nine-millimetre Makarov pistol.
Forensic analysis showed the pistol was the one used in the shooting, but there were no fingerprints on the firearm. The DNA on it did not match either man.
At the time of his arrest, Nyadu was wearing a red shirt with the word “Privilege” written on it.
The nightclub’s hostess testified the man in the red shirt was in front of the bouncer when the bouncer was shot in the back, Superior Court Justice J. Paul Howard noted.
“I cannot believe the man in red was the shooter,” the judge concluded.
The trial also included surveillance video that tracked a group of five men including Nyadu from University Avenue to the parking lot where they were arrested.
Nyadu, who was breathless and sweating when police caught up to him, admitted he had run from the bar. Amankwa told police he had not been there at all.
The judge said neither man’s actions should be interpreted as “consciousness of guilt.” There had been a shooting, so it’s reasonable for people to flee, Howard said.
“In my view, they wanted to distance themselves from the shooting.”
The video overlooking the parking lot where the two men were arrested is grainy. The judge said he could not make out either man tossing anything into the bushes.
After his arrest, an officer advised Amankwa police were going to take photos of him. Left alone in a cell, Amankwa altered his appearance, removing the silver grill from his teeth and unbraiding the corn rows from his hair.
Howard said he found this conduct “highly suspicious.”
Amankwa walked out of the courthouse Thursday hiding his face from news cameras. He pulled a grey, wool cap over his face. An older woman with him wrapped her face in a scarf.
Nyadu, who was a second-year student at the University of Windsor at the time of his arrest, spent 11 months in police custody before being freed on bail.
Female family members who accompanied him to court Thursday began to cry as the judge announced acquittal after acquittal.
One fell to her knees in prayer as the judge left the bench.
Said Brown, Nyadu’s lawyer, “There is absolute relief today.”
The presumption of innocence should never be taken for granted. We believed our clients were innocent.