Homicide suspect once faced deportation

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This article was published 02/02/2021 (1851 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man sought for a recent Winnipeg homicide was before the court two times in the past three years for crimes that could have seen him deported to Sierra Leone.

Court records show Issa Musa, 27, was acquitted after trial last year of housebreak, enter and robbery, and other offences, after a judge ruled he had offered a “plausible” explanation for his presence at the McGee Street home.

Court heard testimony at trial Musa and two other masked men broke into the house Nov. 3, 2018, and threatened occupants with a sword, before robbing them of property and cash.

A male resident at the house testified he spotted police through a window and signalled for help. As two of the robbers fled, the man and another resident grabbed Musa and hit him with a baseball bat, court was told.

Musa testified, telling court he went to the house looking to buy marijuana. He said when he knocked on the door, it was answered by an angry male who directed racist insults at him, sparking a fight. Musa said the man hit him in the face with a baseball bat and held him for police.

Justice Colleen Suche said inconsistencies in the evidence and the prosecution’s decision not to call two female residents as witnesses “left many, many questions unanswered that I simply can’t resolve.”

While she could not say she believed all of Musa’s testimony, Suche said she was left with a reasonable doubt as to his guilt.

In 2017, Musa was sentenced to six months less a day time served and one-year probation, after he struck two women with beer bottles at a house party.

Court heard Musa had become angry, believing partygoers had been stealing his drinks, when he threw a full beer at one woman, hitting her on the shoulder, and another at a woman’s face, breaking her nose. When other partygoers started yelling at him, Musa pulled out a machete and fled.

A sentence of six months or more would have triggered automatic deportation proceedings. Court heard Musa and his family immigrated to Canada from Sierra Leone in 2013.

Upon his release, Musa told court he hoped to spend time with his newborn son, go back to school, and “and stay out of trouble.”

Police issued a Canada-wide warrant for Musa’s arrest, after 44-year-old Wendell John Boulanger was found seriously injured Jan. 28 inside a Craig Street home. Boulanger was taken to hospital and later died.

Musa is described as Black, 5-10, about 160 pounds, with a medium build. He has brown eyes and black hair, with tattoos on both forearms.

Police are warning the public not to approach him, but to call the homicide unit at 204-986-6508 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-8477 if they have any information on his whereabouts.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca