Drug debt led to woman’s killing, Crown alleges

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This article was published 08/04/2015 (3832 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IT was the cold-blooded killing of an innocent young Winnipeg woman who was ambushed on her way to work.

Now a jury has heard the June 2012 killing of Kaila Tran was allegedly done by a man looking to dig his way out of a drug debt.

Treyvonne Willis, 22, appeared in court Tuesday for the start of his high-profile trial. He has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.

Tran, 27, died after being stabbed in a St. Vital parking lot just after 7 a.m. She had just left her Clayton Drive apartment building when she was attacked while walking to her vehicle.

The Crown gave a brief opening statement Tuesday afternoon in which they outlined the allegations against Willis. None of this has been proven and he is presumed innocent.

According to the Crown, Willis was an acquaintance of Tran’s boyfriend who found himself immersed in the drug trade and deep in debt. At some point in 2012, an offer came along he apparently couldn’t refuse.

“In the course of trying to repay that debt, Mr. Willis made a devastating and lethal decision,” the Crown attorney told jurors. “A debt owed, a decision made and a life taken.”

On June 19, Willis boarded a bus in downtown Winnipeg and made his way to Tran’s apartment complex with the intention of killing her, according to the Crown. But the plan was foiled when Willis realized Tran had already left for work and he’d missed her. It allowed her one more day to live.

Jurors were told they will see surveillance video of Willis on the bus, along with a backpack they say was equipped with supplies for the killing.

The following morning, Willis allegedly returned to the scene a bit earlier. He lay in wait, then pounced when Tran left the building, jurors were told.

Tran was stabbed repeatedly in the head and upper body and died quickly, despite efforts from witnesses to save her. Some of those witnesses are expected to testify “about the last moments of Kaila Tran’s life, on the ground in the parking lot,” the Crown attorney told court.

Willis allegedly fled the scene towards the Seine River. He was arrested six days later.

A key witness during the trial is expected to be one of Willis’s friends who was with him at the time of both the planning and execution. The man is expected to tell jurors about what he knew and “how that drug debt owed was connected to the decision made,” the Crown said.

Jurors will also review text messages between the two men that were seized by police. The Crown says they provided a “candid look into conversations” both before and after the murder that Willis would not have expected to be monitored.

Other witnesses include several friends of Willis who will testify about his involvement in the drug trade and financial troubles, a member of the police dive team, identification officers and the pathologist who conducted the autopsy.

The Crown urged jurors not to concern themselves with people whose names they may hear about during the trial but who may not be called to testify. As well, they suggested some questions about this tragedy may never be answered. “What you may never know for sure is the precise reason why (this happened),” the prosecutor said Tuesday.

www.mikeoncrime.com