Murder trial put off after accused fires his lawyer
Loujack Café charged in senior’s stabbing
ST. CATHARINES A first-degree murder trial of a Hamilton man accused of fatally stabbing two people, attempting to murder four more and assaulting another has been delayed until the new year because he fired his lawyer.
Loujack Café has been given more time to retain a new lawyer, with his trial being rescheduled to January at the earliest.
George Burnett, 82, was found i n bed at his Stirton Street home with a knife in his neck. Café, who is in his mid-20s, had been living at Good Shepherd when he was arrested Jan. 27, 2012, and charged with Burnett’s murder. That is the trial that was supposed to begin Tuesday in St. Catharines with jury selection. Instead, dozens of people called for jury duty were sent home after Justice James Ramsay ruled to adjourn the proceedings.
“Although I’m not happy about it, I feel obliged to grant this one adjournment,” he said, explaining that unless he is certain the accused is using the situation as a delay tactic, he must allow him time to get a new lawyer.
Café is also charged with the firstdegree murder of Laura Young, a 37year-old panhandler stabbed and dumped behind a Cathcart Street home.
He is also charged with stabbing four pedestrians in the downtown core and pushing a mom to the ground.
The mother lost consciousness, while her six-year-old daughter cried helplessly.
Following his arrest, Hamilton police registered Café with the province’s Serial Predator Crime Unit under the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, a legal obligation when detec- tives believe they have a serial killer or rapist on their hands.
In a jailhouse interview, Café once told The Spectator he is guided by a voice in his head.
At the time of his arrest, he had several Facebook accounts full of references to the devil and murder. On one, he called himself Apollyon Vetis Mastema — King of the Demons of Hell. A photo he allegedly posted of himself was doctored to show him with red eyes, blood dripping from his mouth, a pitchfork-carrying devil on his shoulder and two handguns placed near his head in a way that suggests horns.
In earlier stories, The Spec reported Café has been well known to Toronto police and has gang connections in that city. He was shot in Toronto in December 2006 and moved to Hamilton soon after. He fathered a child with a woman who lived in Stoney Creek.
Brought into the courtroom in leg shackles and handcuffs, Café smiled and gave a small wave to one Hamilton police officer and a nod to another.
While in custody, Café allegedly attacked a guard at the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre, causing a head injury.
Wiry and angular with close cropped hair and a soul patch on his chin, Café wore grey jeans, a beige shirt and a grey suit jacket.
There were no spectators in the courtroom.
Café recently fired his counsel, Don Fraser, and is in the process of retaining Toronto lawyer Christopher Hicks, who told the court he is awaiting approval by Legal Aid and then must familiarize himself with the case.
Assistant Crown attorney Michael Fox argued the trial should go ahead as planned, either with Hicks just accepting the case or Café re- presenting himself. It has already been two years and seven months since Burnett was murdered, he argued, and 65 civilian witnesses and 30 police officers have been subpoenaed.
The trial was moved to St. Catharines due to the extensive media coverage in Hamilton. The additional charges against him are to be set for trial once the verdict has been rendered in the Burnett case.