The judge-alone trial has begun for Abilaziz Mohamed, who was once Canada’s most wanted fugitive.
Mohamed, who was arrested just hours after being named atop the BOLO program’s “Top 25” list on April 26, 2022, was in court Wednesday as the prime suspect in the second-degree murder of Craig Macdonald.
Macdonald, a 43-year-old father, was shot to death outside a Boston Pizza Restaurant on Cinemart Drive in Scarborough on Oct. 13, 2021.
On Monday, Mohamed pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, but guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter. However, assistant Crown attorney Sean Hickey told Justice Michael Brown the Crown was rejecting that plea and was proceeding with the trial for second-degree murder.
According to an agreed statement of facts, MacDonald and Mohamed became involved in an altercation on the Boston Pizza patio and in the parking lot. During the course of the fight, Mohamed shot MacDonald in the chest with a .32 calibre semi-automatic handgun.
Police and other emergency services reached the scene before MacDonald was rushed to Sunnybrook Hospital where he later died. An autopsy determined that he was killed by a penetrating gunshot wound to the torso.
While Mohamed admits he shot MacDonald, the crown will have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mohamed had the intent to kill MacDonald.
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After the murder, the victim’s sister, Drema MacDonald, told Global News Craig worked for Providence Health. She said he loved the Toronto Maples Leafs and had five children, two stepchildren and a granddaughter.
The first officer on the scene, Const. Joshua Goulah testified Wednesday when he arrived at the parking lot of the Boston Pizza around 11:40 pm on Oct. 13, 2021, he noticed three people standing over a man lying on the ground. The man was wearing a Leafs jersey.
Goulah said he went to the back of his scout car and got a first aid kit. He checked for a pulse, looked for an entry and exit wound and began CPR.
Goulah said he couldn’t locate a pulse, and the man was not responding to anything he was saying. Within minutes, Goulah said emergency medical services arrived and took over life-saving measures. The officer said he rode in the back of the ambulance as the man, who he learned was named Craig MacDonald, was rushed to Sunnybrook Hospital.
Cherry Jackson, who worked as a bartender at the Boston Pizza, testified at one point in the evening, she heard a planter fall and looked outside on the patio. She saw two men fighting, including a man she believed was wearing a Blue Jays jersey who she said was doing the punching.
Jackson testified she later heard a woman yelling outside and then at least one gunshot.
Her manager told her to call 911. She said she saw the man in the blue jersey lying on the ground. Jackson said she had been serving drinks to both men earlier in evening. They were sitting apart. One at a table with two women and another man. The other man had been at the bar with a friend.
During cross-examination, defence lawyer Mitchell Huberman read a transcript from the interview Jackson gave police the night of the shooting, and asked her if she remembered that she gave a description of the man who was getting punched.
She agreed with Huberman that the man who was being punched was wearing a hat, a long chain and a dark, green bomber jacket. Jackson agreed he was the man who had earlier been sitting at the bar with a friend.
Huberman asked if she recalled if the man in the bomber jacker was on his back and the man in the blue jersey was on top of him. Jackson agreed.
The trial continues.
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