Trial begins for 3 men accused of murdering 17-year-old in west-end Toronto restaurant

Delma Hagley leaves the Superior Court of Justice hopeful her son’s accused killers will be convicted.

“It’s been hard not just for me, my family, my children; every day, the pain seems to be worse. I still don’t understand why they did this to my son,” Hagley says outside of court.

Three men — Shakiyl Shaw, his twin brother Lenneil Shaw and another man, Mohamed Ali-Nur — are on trial for first-degree murder in the death of 17-year-old Jarryl Hagley. The jury heard a fourth man named Winston Poyser, also charged with first-degree murder, pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of being an accessory after the fact to murder after giving information to police about his involvement and the involvement of others in the shooting.

It was Oct. 16, 2016 when Hagley was shot to death inside the Pizza Pizza on Weston Road near Lawrence Avenue, where the teenager was finishing his evening with friends.

In their opening address to the jury, Crown attorneys David Tice and Michael Coristine told the jury that Poyser is expected to testify that he and the three accused were driving around in his SUV that night after drinking vodka and taking MDMA. Poyser let Shakiyl drive because he was feeling intoxicated.

Poyser is expected to testify that after they had been driving for some time, he heard Ali-Nur say, “There’s Jarryl.” This name was unfamiliar to Poyser. The car circled a few times and eventually parked off Weston Road, according to the Crown.

The Crown says Poyser will testify that Lenneil and Ali-Nur exited the vehicle and told him to come with them. Shakiyl remained in the car. It’s expected that Poyser will identify himself and the two other suspects walking in video surveillance towards the Pizza Pizza and then running away from it. It’s also expected that Poyser will identify Shakiyl as the getaway driver.

The Shaw twins, now 25 years old, sat side by side in prisoners’ boxes with two plexiglass sheets and some distance between them. The third accused, Ali-Nur, is now 20 years old. All three have pleaded not guilty. They’ve been in custody since their arrests a few months after the murder.

Poyser has already done his time after pleading guilty to the lesser charge of accessory after the fact to murder. He served the equivalent of 27 months in prison and is now serving two years of probation.