Crown tells jury victim was killed in error as part of ‘silliest of feuds’
Fehmi Sen was killed by mistake within the context of the silliest of feuds, a jury at the Montreal courthouse was told at the start of the trial of two Montreal men accused of murdering him.
“(Sen) was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” prosecutor Yasaman Jahanbakhsh said in her opening statement to a jury at the Montreal courthouse Tuesday morning.
For the next six to eight weeks, the jury will hear evidence that is part of the Crown’s case alleging LaSalle resident Marlon Henry and Rakesh Jankie, both 28, killed Sen on May 30, 2013, as part of a planned drive-by shooting where they chose the wrong target.
Both men are charged with firstdegree murder.
A trial is like a puzzle, Jahanbakhsh said, and the testimony from each witness will be a piece of that puzzle. Once all the pieces are in, she said, “you will be convinced they killed Fehmi Sen by mistake for the silliest of feuds.”
Jahanbakhsh explained Sen was killed as part of an argument between two groups of men that began the previous night at Kent Park in the Côte-des-Neiges—NotreDame-de-Grâce borough. The dispute was over a woman, Jankie’s ex-girlfriend and how she was, at the time, dating someone else.
The exchange was heated, Jahanbakhsh said, while noting that Sen wasn’t even present nor was he the man who was dating Jankie’s ex-girlfriend. Men from both groups exchanged death threats before they parted ways.
The following night, Sen was at Kent Park along with Jankie’s exgirlfriend and the man she was dating. In what appears to have been a mistake on their part, Henry and Jankie approached Sen, and assumed he was part of the group they had argued with the night before. Someone intervened and told Henry and Jankie they were threatening the wrong person and the two men left the park.
A short while later, the accused and two other men drove by on a street near the park in a black Lincoln Navigator, and a single shot was fired in Sen’s direction.
He was struck in the chest and died shortly after ambulance technicians drove him to the Jewish General Hospital.
The prosecutor told the jury they will hear testimony from Kshawn Rocque, 26, a man who was seated in the back seat of the Navigator when the shot was fired. He is expected to say that a fourth man, Shorn Carr, 35, was driving the sport utility vehicle and that Jankie was seated in the front passenger seat. Rocque is also expected to say that Henry was seated next to him on the passenger side of the back seat. Jahanbakhsh said eyewitnesses noticed a window on the passenger side of the vehicle was open when the shot was fired.
“Mr. Rocque will testify about what happened before and after (the murder),” Jahanbakhsh said, while adding that the witness will say he and the other three men drove to Châteauguay after the shooting and then returned to Montreal. She also said cellphone records will place the accused at Kent Park and in Châteauguay.
The accused were arrested after they returned to Montreal from Châteauguay. The Navigator was involved in a hit-and-run accident in Montreal and police investigating that incident pulled them over.
A woman who knows Jankie is expected to testify that, following the murder, he told her he buried the firearm used to kill Sen. The firearm has yet to found. Another woman is expected to tell the jury Jankie told her about the argument that led to Sen’s death.