Ontario’s Court of Appeal has ordered a new trial for the two men convicted of second-degree murder and manslaughter in the beating death of Zaher (Zack) Noureddine in late 2015.
Around midnight on Dec. 29, 2015, Noureddine and Mitchell Conery, his co-worker, were walking toward Conery’s vehicle near Yonge Street and Lola Road when three men they didn’t know approached them and started an unprovoked attack.
Noureddine and Conery were beaten up by 28-year-old Patrick Smith, 34-year-old Matthew Moreira and a third man. Noureddine died from head injuries sustained during the attack.
In 2018, a jury convicted Smith of the second-degree murder of Noureddine and of assaulting Conery. Moreira was convicted of manslaughter for Noureddine and robbery for Conery.
The third man, 32-year-old William Cummins, was later convicted of first-degree murder in connection with the fatal beating of Noureddine.
Smith and Moreira had appealed their sentences and on Dec. 6, Ontario’s Court of Appeal ordered new trials for the pair.
The judge wrote he would order a new trial for Smith on the murder charge only “bearing in mind that Smith does not dispute that he killed Noureddine; the only issue is whether he intended to kill him.”
For Moreira, the judge wrote he would order a new trial on the grounds that the trial judge’s jury instruction on the charge of aiding Smith to commit murder or manslaughter was insufficient.
— with files from Catherine McDonald.
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