In closing arguments presented to a jury on Wednesday, the crown said that “identification is key” in the case of the three men accused of fatally shooting a 17-year-old at a west-end pizza shop in 2016.
Jarryl Hagley was gunned down inside a Pizza Pizza on Weston Road on Oct. 16 after a group of men burst into the shop with firearms and started shooting.
Hagley sustained “catastrophic injuries,” the crown said, and later died.
Four suspects were later charged in connection with Hagley’s murder.
Mohamed Ali Nur, 20, along with 25-year-old twin brothers Shakiyl Shaw and Lenneil Shaw, have each plead not guilty to first-degree murder charges.
A fourth suspect, identified as 24-year-old Winston Poyser, was originally charged with first-degree murder, but that charge has since been resolved.
Poyser was later charged with accessory after the fact and testified on April 24 as the Crown’s key witness in the case.
The jury has seen security video showing three people running away from the restaurant after the shooting. In the video, Poyser can be seen running behind two suspects while a third waited in the getaway vehicle.
In his closing arguments, Crown David Tice said that both Poyser and the security video identified the three men accused in the incident, saying that “identification is key”
“It was by his own bad luck he got caught up in the murder,” Tice said of Poyser.
Tice also said that Poyser received no deal or “special favours” to testify against the other accused men, “he simply did the right thing.”
“(Poyser) is not someone who lives a criminal lifestyle. He spent a week on the witness stand fearing he would get shot,” Tice said. “I suggest that was a very courageous thing to do.”
The Crown did not provide a motive for the shooting.
Defence lawyers have previously attacked Poyser’s credibility, suggesting at trial that he got a good deal from police. They will present their closing arguments when court resumes on Thursday.
