Police disagree after prosecutors drop charges in Abdikarim murder

[Aaliyyah]

Police disagree after prosecutors drop charges in Abdikarim murder

Posted: February 26, 2009, 7:49 PM by Rob Roberts

By Dave Bowden, National Post

 

Toronto police disagree with Crown prosecutors who dropped charges today against two men allegedly caught on video murdering a teenager, a spokesman says.

 

 

“Our investigators felt that they had a case that could have been put before the courts for the courts to decide based on the evidence that we had. Clearly, there was a disagreement [from prosecutors],” Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash told CP24.

 

 

Alleged shooter Owen Smith, 25, and Wendell Damian Cuff, 25, were charged with the first-degree murder of Abdikarim Ahmed Abdikarim (pictured), 18, last March. Both were released from jail this afternoon.

 

 

Graphic video evidence of the murder was not enough to convict the two men, Crown prosecutor Joe Callaghan told Justice Hugh Atwood as he withdrew charges.

 

 

“After a thorough and careful analysis of all the available evidence in this case, including the video footage, I have concluded that the evidence . . .[is] insufficient to pass the test at a preliminary inquiry.”

 

 

Abdikarim was killed and five friends wounded when a gunman opened fire into a crowded Lawrence Heights alcove. A video of the shooting, which did not show the victims getting hit, was released by Toronto Police and broadcast around the world.

 

 

In the video, the gunman calmly walked up to a group of six men and fired continuously while an apaprent accomplice hovered in the background. Both men are then shown fleeing in opposite directions.

 

 

Shot from above, the grainy black and white video shows very little of the shooter’s face, which is obstructed by a black baseball cap.

 

 

Police released the video last year in the hopes that someone might recognize the men shown. It was posted to YouTube and has since received over 45,000 hits.

 

 

John Struthers, lawyer for Mr. Cuff, said the video did not produce witnesses coming forward to identify the shooters: “No. No positive ID,” he said.

 

 

A friend of the Abdikarim family told Global News that all five of Mr. Abdikarim’s friends wounded by the shooter were reluctant and unco-operative witnesses.

 

 

Mr. Callaghan told the court that the evidence amounted to “no reasonable prospect for conviction,” prompting him to drop the charges.

Chris Bentley, the provincial Attorney General, said today police continued to actively investigate, but Mr. Pugash said that is not the case.

 

 

“It’s not technically closed, but it’s not being actively investigated,” Mr. Pugash told CP24, adding, “Should any new information come in, then we’ll certainly look at it very closely.”

 

 

Attorneys for the accused men praised their Crown counterparts for what they called the “courageous” decision not to pursue a trial.

 

 

“I’m giving them all the credit in the world for doing the right thing,” said John Struthers, Mr. Cuff’s lawyer. “At the end of the day the person alleged to be Mr. Cuff on that video – there was no evidence that he had anything to do with it.”

 

 

Boris Bytensky, lawyer for Mr. Smith, said he hopes the withdrawal of the charges will clear his client’s name in the public eye.

 

 

“He has never admitted to any person that I’m aware of that he was the gunman. He certainly never made that admission to me. He’s always denied his involvement in this matter,” he said.

 

 

But spokespeople for Mr. Abdikarim’s family expressed outrage at what they saw as a lack of justice.

 

 

Barlin Ali, a family friend who said Mr. Abdikarim was “like a son” to her, expressed frustration with what she saw as the futility of security cameras.

 

 

“They put in subway cameras. They put in bus cameras, when the camera doesn’t work at all,” she said. “Because it didn’t work in this case, it’s never going to work.”

 

 

Mohamed Gilao, a spokesman for the family and a prominent member of the Somali Canadian community whose own son’s 2005 gun death remains unsolved, echoed her sentiment, saying he felt betrayed by the justice system.

 

 

“What’s the use of the cameras? Why do we have the cameras all over the place?” he said.

 

 

“We are outraged. It is a shame that we feel unsafe here in Canada.”

 

From what I heard this kid was a good kid. Just at the wrong place at the wrong time. May he rest in peace and may Allah swt give his family the sabr. I feel for his parents, now that they know that justice was not served.

 

salaam

[Nin-Yaaban]

this is when street justice really works. just find the scumbags, and deal with them. what more evidence do you need than a video of the crime? these ******s would come after you for small thing as domestic and throw you in jail, but let killers walk free. the criminal justice here is a joke.