Slaying victim lured to Airbnb: prosecutors

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This article was published 04/11/2019 (2321 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Four men on trial for murder lured their victim to an Airbnb apartment to carry out the killing, prosecutors alleged Monday.

Matthew Marjanovic, 31; Damir Kulic, 29; Ahamed Althaaf Ismail, 31; and Aram Soroush, 27, are charged with first-degree murder in the Aug. 13, 2017, beating death of 29-year-old Mustafa Peyawary.

Peyawary had arrived at the Killarney Avenue apartment at 9:30 p.m., and within minutes “the thumping and screaming began,” Crown attorney Monique Cam told jurors in an opening address.

Cam said surveillance footage from various sources will show what the four accused were doing in the hours leading up to the killing, including stopping at Home Depot to pick up supplies.

“One thing they won’t be able to tell you is why Mustafa Peyawary was killed,” Cam said, adding motive is not a requirement for a finding of guilt. “The facts will reveal that Mustafa Peyawary’s death was planned and it was deliberate.”

Sarah Akimyemi, whose apartment was next door to where Peyawary was killed, told court she had just returned home from volunteer work and was watching television when she heard “super loud” thumping sounds coming from the apartment.

“I heard someone screaming,” she said. “It was a male voice.”

She said she peaked out into the hall and saw a man outside the door of the apartment who told her “Oh, you can go back inside, it’s my friend, he took something he wasn’t supposed to.”

“I went back inside, locked the door and called 911,” she said.

Winnipeg Police Service Const. Keith Ivany testified he and partner Const. Artem Zaretskin arrived at the apartment shortly after 10 p.m., and found Peyawary dead on the living room floor, his hands and feet bound with zip ties, and head covered with cloth and a plastic bag.

“There was a tremendous amount of blood,” Ivany said.

Peyawary had no pulse, but was still warm to the touch, Ivany said. “I deemed… he was beyond help at that time.”

Ivany said there was a strong smell of bleach upon entering the apartment. The officers found a mop and bucket, garbage bags, heavy-duty wipes, but the apartment appeared otherwise unoccupied.

The owner of the apartment later testified he had rented the space out for one night.

Ivany said he and Zaretskin were in the process of clearing the apartment when a man later identified as Kulic walked out of a hallway closet.

“There was a brief pause and we all sort of looked at each other” before the man complied with a police demand to get on the floor, Ivany said.

Ivany said police found “a little bit of blood” on the man’s clothes and latex gloves in his pockets.

The trial resumes today and is set for four weeks.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca