Jurors hear detailed ‘murder-for-hire’ plot that led to woman’s stabbing death

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This article was published 09/04/2015 (3829 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jurors have been given a dramatic, detailed account of how a Winnipeg woman’s killing was allegedly planned and executed.

Treyvonne Willis, 22, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder for the June 2012 attack that left 27-year-old Kaila Tran dead. She was repeatedly stabbed outside her St. Vital apartment complex as she left for work.

The Crown alleges Willis killed Tran as part of a so-called “murder-for-hire” in order to get out of a massive drug debt. On Thursday, their key witness took the stand.

Tremaine Sam-Kelly told jurors he spent considerable time with Willis in the days preceding the slaying, then joined the accused on the morning it happened. He claims he only agreed to provide “emotional support” for his friend and was stunned at the brutality of what Willis did.

“I just thought she’d get slapped around a little bit and then get jacked,” he said Thursday. “Robbery is a lot different than murder. It happened a lot differently than I thought.”

Sam-Kelly had met Willis a couple of months earlier and the pair spent considerable time doing drugs together, including in the hours before the fatal ambush. He said Willis was a desperate man willing to do anything to dig himself out of a huge financial hole linked to his drug habit.

“He said he got some debts. He said it was a lot, like 20 grand. He said he had to pay these people off or he would get hurt,” said Sam-Kelly.

He claims Willis was approached by someone — Sam-Kelly says he personally doesn’t know who — and given an “out.”

“He said he didn’t have any options. He decided to do a favour for somebody else. He said ‘I gotta rub somebody out in order to get paid’,” said Sam-Kelly.

Willis further explained how he knew Tran through her boyfriend. And that Tran was going to be targeted because she was a “snitch” against her boyfriend.

“(Willis) said if we get rid of her, he can give me the money. The boyfriend,” said Sam-Kelly. He said the plan involved stealing items such as Tran’s bank cards and even her car that would ultimately be used by Tran’s boyfriend to give money to Willis that he could use against his drug debts.

But things didn’t go off according to plan. On June 19, Sam-Kelly said he joined Willis as they went to Tran’s apartment — only to discover she had already left for work. Jurors viewed a series of surveillance videos Thursday from Winnipeg Transit which show the men together en route to the attack.

So they returned the following morning, a bit earlier and this time taking a cab, and waited for her to come out once they confirmed her car was still there.

Sam-Kelly said he simply stood by while Willis went down the nearby banks of the Seine River and changed into some black clothing he’d borrowed from friends, then returned moments later holding a knife in his gloved hand. Sam-Kelly said he watched as Tran emerged from her building, unaware of what was about to happen to her.

“I heard ‘Leave me alone.’ Then I heard screams,” said Sam-Kelly. He told jurors how he and Willis then ran from the scene in opposite directions but met up the following day.

“He told me the knife bent,” said Sam-Kelly. Willis also discussed how he’d “sunk” the knife and some of the clothing he wore in the river.

Under cross-examination, defence lawyers for Willis suggested that Sam-Kelly has altered the truth to suit his own purposes. They noted police originally told Sam-Kelly they were going to charge him with murder, but didn’t when he ultimately pointed the finger at Willis.

On Thursday, lawyers suggested Sam-Kelly “actively encouraged” Willis to do what he did, or perhaps he was even the real killer while Willis was the one in the “support” role who stood by and did nothing.

“No, it was him,” a laughing Sam-Kelly responded. Lawyers suggested perhaps he was so high on drugs at time he doesn’t recall what really happened.

“I would know if I stabbed someone,” he said.

Following the killing, Willis didn’t receive the payout he expected because Tran’s car was ultimately impounded by police and her boyfriend had no access to it, said Sam-Kelly.

“The boyfriend’s stuff was frozen,” said Sam-Kelly. As well, Willis didn’t end up stealing any of her property because “there were too many people around” who heard Tran’s screams and rushed outside.

“It didn’t work out like it was supposed to,” said Sam-Kelly. That led to a series of texts between him and Willis in the following days which the men discussed other means of trying to come up with money, including steal cars from their own family members. Willis would be arrested before anything more could occur.

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