Crown witness in Montsion trial admits he was wrong
Man had claimed he had a clear view of Abdirahman Abdi getting hit in the face
The first Crown witness who claims to have had a clear view of Const. Daniel Montsion strike Abdirahman Abdi in the face ended his cross examination by telling the court he "got it wrong."
Montsion of the Ottawa police has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon in Abdi's death in 2016.
- 'Unjustified' punches caused Abdirahman Abdi's death, Crown begins
- Montsion did not cause Abdi's injuries, defence argues
Over three days of testimony, David Thyne, 49, told the court he has developmental delays, and described the scenario that has haunted his dreams for 2½ years.
Thyne remembers police officers hit Abdi in the face with batons while he was face-down on the ground, screaming for help outside of his apartment building on July 24, 2016.
The witness broke down tearfully when defence lawyer Solomon Friedman queued up surveillance video of the actual events.
Instead of putting the witness through the ordeal of having to watch the video, the defence and the Crown agreed on what the video shows: No one hit Abdi in the head with a baton, and no one hit him while he was in handcuffs.
"I admit that I was wrong," Thyne said toward the end of three days of testimony.
His story
He told the Crown over two days of testimony that he was watching TV in his room when he heard a woman screaming.
Her wails were soon met with the screams of a man.
The witness ran to his fire escape across the street from Abdi's apartment building at 55 Hilda St., but his story from there was riddled with inconsistencies, the court heard.
The man told Special Investigations Unit (SIU) investigators in 2016 that he could see Abdi was on the ground with his hands behind his back, being hit in the face by police officers.
He couldn't be sure when he talked to the SIU if the officers used their fists or batons.
He said he went back into his room to get his phone, and recorded a video as he walked toward the scene.
On the video, he is heard telling a woman he didn't see anything at all. In court, he clarified he wasn't ready to talk about what he saw.
But Friedman pointed out that he did talk to a cameraperson who arrived shortly after.
"They were using their cane, or stick, or what it is and they were really, really going at him and he was screaming," the man was quoted saying by a local TV station.
There were other inconsistencies as well, dating back to his statement to the SIU, including an incorrect description of how Abdi was positioned on the ground.
Similar to another case
It's a similar pattern to testimony that played out several weeks ago in the courtroom, when the Crown called a young person to the stand who provided only few details about the events at 55 Hilda St., which were all called into question by Montsion's defence team.
The teenager, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, told the court during the Crown's questioning that they heard part of the arrest from their third-floor window.
The teen was 16 years old at the time.
They testified that while lying in bed, they heard Abdi shouting "Help me," and "Oh God," in the Somali language. The teen also described the sound of impact against fabric, and demonstrated it by punching the palm of their hand.
When they looked out of their window, they saw "arms swinging" near the front door of the building, but the view was obscured.
It was later revealed in cross-examination that his account differed significantly from what he told SIU investigators when they took his statement in 2016. Back then, he told the SIU he was already outside when the arrest began.
The defence showed in court that neither version of events was consistent compared with surveillance video from the building.
The two witnesses are the only ones called to court so far who claim to have seen any part of the violent altercation between Abdi and police.