Murder suspect took flight to Syria
Father denies even knowing son’s age
The father of a man wanted for murder in the drug killing of a teen told a court he didn’t know where his son was, but a plane ticket showed Mohammed Wehbe made a trip to Syria days after the shooting.
Ahmad Wehbe said he wasn’t even sure about his son’s age, let alone where he might have gone in the days after 16-year-old Yazdan Ghiasvand Ghiasi was shot through the heart in the back seat of a car on Booth Street on Dec. 6, 2010.
Mohammed Wehbe boarded a plane in Montreal bound first for Paris, then Damascus. He never made the return flight.
Mohammed Wehbe is wanted for second-degree murder in Ghiasi’s slaying. His father was testifying Wednesday in the manslaughter trial of Abdulhamid Wehbe, the man the Crown alleges went to a drug rip-off with Mohammed Wehbe on Dec. 6, 2010, that resulted in Ghiasi’s being shot. Ghiasi was planning to sell the duo a 6.5-pound bag of marijuana for $15,000, the trial has heard.
It’s alleged that Mohammed Wehbe was the shooter. The trial has heard that a man alleged to be Abdulhamid Wehbe was waiting inside a nearby house when the shooting occurred. Ahmad Wehbe said he hadn’t seen his son since about two months before the killing, and hasn’t heard from him since.
“Have you reported him missing?,” inquired prosecutor Mark Holmes. “No,” replied his father. “Are you worried about him?,” asked Holmes.
“No, because he doesn’t reside with me,” said Ahmad Wehbe, who had been advised by the judge before testifying that nothing he said in court could be used against him later.
Ahmad Wehbe acknowledged he was charged on his credit card for travel but reported the card lost. He didn’t know if the charge was for flights, he said.
Earlier, Dr. Christopher Milroy testified that the shot that killed Ghiasi passed through both lungs and the “main pumping chamber” of his heart.
“Typically people who are shot though the heart collapse very quickly, in the order of seconds,” said Milroy. “The nature of the gunshot wound track is it was going to be inevitably fatal.”
“I believe the gun was pressed up against the torso,” said Milroy. “That is the most logical conclusion.”
The shot was consistent with a medium-calibre handgun, Milroy said.
Abdulhamid Wehbe’s defence lawyer, Neil Weinstein, asked the doctor if a bullet that passed through the sunroof of the car could have been the fatal shot, if Ghiasi had been lying on top of the shooter and engaged in a struggle.
Milroy agreed it was possible after looking at pictures.
The trial continues Thursday.