Toronto men sentenced for outing witness online

Posts made woman fear for her safety in murder trial

In a case that appears unprecedented in Canada, three men have been sentenced for posting the image and audio of a key Crown witness in a Toronto murder case to a series of Instagram accounts with a total of more than 500,000 followers.

“These are not simple, mischievous pranks that will go unpunished,” Ontario Court Judge Phil Downes said, describing the case as an opportunity to send a strong message of deterrence that, as the courts embrace online video conferencing, “this type of abuse will not be tolerated.”

Kyle Stephens, 22, Ryan Taylor, 34, and Mohammed Abdalla, 26, all pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice last fall and apologized Thursday for posting the images and audio of the witness, who was testifying via Zoom at a preliminary hearing in a first-degree murder case. Those proceedings — held to determine if there’s enough evidence to commit the accused to trial — were subject to a standard publication ban.

Although Downes found the men had no “concerted desire” to intimidate the witness or prevent her from testifying, their actions were a “stupid, reckless, interference with the administration of justice.”

Saying he “struggled” with the appropriate sentence, Downes placed the trio on two years of probation and ordered them to each perform 75 hours of community service.

The case first came to light after the witness told police her image was circulating on Instagram, specifically on the pages thehood6ix and thewarinda6ix.

“This made the witness fear for her personal safety,” according to an outline of the case presented in court. “She believed these posts to be impeding her from testifying against the accused.” (The witness did, in fact, go on to testify at the murder trial.)

Meta, the company that owns Instagram, did not respond to the Star’s request for comment on whether the accounts violated the network’s guidelines.

The pretrial hearing brought intense public interest due to the notoriety of the accused; there were as many as 200 logins to the Zoom proceedings, during which disruptive and threatening comments were made referencing “gang conflicts in Toronto,” according to the outline.

“The last thing the administration of justice system needs is any other disincentive for witnesses to serious crimes to come forward,” Downes said Thursday.

After the witness complained, police investigated and found it was not just video and audio of her testimony that had been shared, but also images of the accused, the judge who was presiding over the preliminary hearing, and other evidence that had been heard in court.

Eventually, police identified several Instagram accounts, which featured news and entertainment posts with a focus on gang culture and Toronto’s underground rap music scene.

On Nov. 4, police raided several addresses in the GTA and four men were charged with intimidating justice system participants, obstructing justice and failing to comply with a publication ban. Three of the four men pleaded guilty only to obstruct justice while the other charges were dropped. The remaining accused, Afrah Mohamed, has elected to have a trial this summer.

During sentencing submissions Thursday — held via Zoom — Crown attorney Rob Fried asked the judge to impose a suspended sentence, arguing a conditional discharge was not in the public interest.

“This was a murder prosecution,” Fried said. “It wasn’t simply sending a text to another friend. Once it’s out there it’s out there, you can’t take it back. Once posted on Instagram is out there forever.”

Saying he doesn’t believe the three men will ever be back before the courts, the Crown attorney also asked the judge to consider the potential their conduct could have on other witnesses who may fear their testimony will be shared online.

“The court needs to make it abundantly clear that sharing of proceedings is dangerous and it absolutely cannot happen.”

The defence lawyers argued a conditional discharge was more appropriate given their relatively youthful ages, lack of criminal records, remorse and guilty pleas.

Abdalla’s lawyer, Michael Wong, said his client comes from a supportive family and has never been in trouble with the law. He works overnight shifts as a grocery clerk and will soon be attending college. “With the prevalence of posting everything on social media … it can be easy to overlook the harm posting can cause other people,” Wong said.

In court Thursday, Abdalla told the judge he understood his actions have “caused a lot of harm to others and I take full responsibility for it.”

Defence lawyer Dylan Finlay, representing Stephens, said his client’s “behaviour was totally out of character,” noting he was 19 at the time of the offence.

During the pandemic, when a lot of people found themselves online, “he got involved, unfortunately, in some toxic, online gang culture” and lacked the understanding that “people on the other side of the computer are real people,” Finlay said, noting Stephens has already attended counselling and demonstrated empathy.

Stephens, who has become a marketing consultant, also wrote a letter of apology to the witness, writing, “I express my deepest remorse, because that is not who I am,” Finlay told the judge.

Lawyer Harval Bassi, whose client is Ryan Taylor, told the judge: “We live in a day and age of social media where we don’t necessarily act the way we may act in the real world. This is a lesson learned for all of these men.”

Taylor, who became emotional as Bassi described how he cares for his cancer-stricken mother, lost his livelihood when police laid the charge — the Instagram account was his sole source of income.

Taylor told the judge he realizes “how severe and how harmful” his actions were, saying: “I do feel very remorseful and I’ll never do anything like this in my life.”

In his ruling, Downes noted there is no suggestion the men were actually involved in gang activity. “In truth, what was happening here was a bit of male bravado.”

‘‘

These are not simple, mischievous pranks that will go unpunished. This type of abuse will not be tolerated.

PHIL DOWNES ONTARIO COURT JUDGE