Closing arguments in shooting trial

Most details can’t be reported due to publication ban

The prosecutors and defence counsel made their closing arguments in the trial of a man accused of shooting into an east Hamilton home two years ago and critically wounding a seven-year-old boy.

But most of what the jury heard Wednesday cannot be reported because of a sweeping publication ban.

“The evidence shows that Jayden Pitter is guilty of discharging a firearm recklessly into a place while another person is present and aggravated assault,” assistant Crown attorney Amber Lepchuk told the 12-person jury.

The shooting happened around 7:50 p.m. on Jan. 23, 2020, at a home on Gordon Street in Hamilton’s east end near Barton and Gage. The prosecutor told the jury the boy’s pregnant mother, who cannot be identified because of a separate publication ban on the little boy’s identity, had just gone upstairs because she was feeling unwell.

“She was watching a surveillance camera in black and white when she saw Lowkey walking down the side of her house slowly, with his head down,” Lepchuk said. “She jumped up and went to yell, heard two shots and then heard (her son) scream.”

The trial heard earlier that Pitter was known as Lowkey, as well as Kyrie.

One nine-millimetre bullet struck the seven-year-old, who was playing downstairs, in the left hand and then tore through his abdomen and bowel before smashing into his hip. The other bullet lodged in a wall.

Lepchuk said the woman testified that because she knows Pitter, she later recognized him from what he was wearing and the way he walked.

“There was fear and panic in her,” Lepchuk said. “Just because she didn’t recognize Pitter on the camera doesn’t mean she wasn’t able to remember later.”

Earlier in the trial, the boy’s mom testified that it was only after the chaos of screams and finding her son bleeding that she was able to clearly think about what she saw on the camera while she waited in hospital for her boy to come out of life-saving surgery. The boy spent four days on life support but ultimately survived.

But Scott Reid, Pitter’s defence lawyer, told the jury his client is the victim of mistaken identity, and accused police and prosecutors of getting caught up in a false narrative.

“The prosecutor applied tortured reasoning,” Reid told the jury. “It was convoluted, speculative reasoning. The theme here is tunnel vision ... and they went plowing ahead in spite of the evidence.”

Superior Court Justice Antonio Skarica will deliver his charge the jury Thursday morning.