Gangsters not guilty of obstructing justice: judge

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This article was published 13/08/2009 (5872 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TWO Winnipeg gang members who crippled a high-profile murder trial by refusing to testify have been found not guilty of obstructing justice.

Provincial court Judge Lee Ann Martin ruled this week the two key witnesses were not deliberately trying to derail the legal process by remaining silent on the stand.

Gharib Abdullah, 23, and Cory Amyotte, 22, were the intended targets of the shooting that killed Winnipeg teen Phil Haiart in October 2005. The young man was struck by a stray bullet as he walked down the street.

Abdullah and Amyotte were the only eyewitnesses who could potentially identify whether one of the accused, Jeff Cansanay and Corey Spence, was holding the gun. Both refused to testify at the trial of Cansanay, who walked free in April 2007 when a judge refused to allow their videotaped police statements to be entered as evidence.

The Manitoba Court of Appeal recently overturned that decision and ordered a new trial against Cansanay.

Abdullah and Amyotte again refused to take the witness stand at Spence’s trial in June 2007. But the judge in that case allowed their videotaped statements as evidence and Spence was convicted.

The two gang members were cited for contempt of court at the time of the Spence case and given precedent-setting prison terms — Amyotte receiving four years, Abdullah three-and-a-half.

Police later charged them with obstruction of justice for their actions during Cansanay’s case. Amyotte and Abdullah began their trial last year and told court police duped them into giving false statements against Cansanay and Spence by promising not to charge them with other gang-related offences. They also expressed concern for their family’s safety if they testified.

“They told me I would be charged if I didn’t co-operate. I had no idea who shot at me, but I told them what they wanted to hear just so I could go home,” Amyotte said. He claims he felt bad when he showed up to testify and saw Cansanay’s family “looking sad.”

Their lawyer, Paul Cooper, noted that the pair later called a national radio show to complain about their treatment. Abdullah told the Crime and Punishment show, based in Winnipeg, that he wanted to be deported back to his native Iraq.

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