Pizza Pizza key witness "a snake in Palace of Justice": Defence
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The Crown’s linchpin witness to the murder of teen Jarryl Hagley was branded “a snake who violated the Palace of Justice” because of his lying, a defence lawyer argued Thursday.
In his closing to the jury, defence lawyer Dirk Derstine said key Crown witness Winston Poyser had lied so repeatedly that his evidence cannot be trusted to convict his client Shakiyl Shaw, so the jury should acquit him.
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“He’s a snake who violated The Palace of Justice (the translation of the French term for courthouse,),” said Derstine.
“You just cannot trust what comes out of Winston Poyser’s mouth.”
Poyser was initially charged with first-degree murder, along with identical twin brothers Shakiyl and Lennneil Shaw and Mohamed Ali-Nur in the shooting death of Hagley, 17, inside a Pizza Pizza shop on Oct. 16, 2016.
Earlier, Poyser, 26, pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact and was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment.
He implicated Shakiyl as the getaway car driver and his brother Lenneil and Ali-Nur as the gunmen who opened fire, killing Hagley.
Shakiyl and Lenneil Shaw, who’ll turn 26 next month, and Ali-Nur, who’ll turn 21 on Sunday, have pleaded not guilty.
The Crown is asserting that Poyser “came here with nothing to hide and nothing to gain” in its closing on Wednesday.
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Poyser, who had been drinking and consuming MDMA that night, was an unreliable witness at times but he was sure of the identities of the trio he accompanied that night, said Crown David Tice.
Poyser knew the Shaw twins for years but just met Ali-Nur that night and knew him only by the nickname “Kron-dog.”
Poyser testified he spent a few hours together with them that night and into the early morning hours of the shooting.
Defence lawyers accused Poyser of fabricating this story, implicating the wrong men because he feared the real killers.
Poyser’s lawyer Brian Ross approached homicide detectives Paul Worden and Jason Shankaran in Nov. 2016, saying his client “would say the other perpetrators he was with that night have carried guns in the past,” court heard.
Ross said his client wanted to be placed in witness protection outside of the GTA as he worried about his family.
He didn’t want to be charged with a criminal offence.
He was charged and isn’t in witness protection.
There’s no motive suggested for the apparently-targeted hit on either Hagley or one of his three companions that night.
The trial resumes Tuesday.
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