For roles in slaying of 16-year-old boy, 2 men plead guilty

Sixteen-year-old John Ndayishimiye of Ottawa was afraid he was going to die.

He came home to his mother and sister one day in the summer of 2021 and told them they all had to leave, that they shouldn't sleep there anymore, because people were coming to kill them, his sister wrote in a victim impact statement read aloud by a Crown prosecutor in Superior Court on Thursday.

Ndayishimiye was an eyewitness in the July 2021 killing of Loris Tyson Ndongozi, and had identified the alleged shooter for Ottawa police, sources had earlier told CBC News.

Ottawa police relocated everyone, but Ndayishimiye's mother and sister couldn't keep living with him — the danger was too great, his sister wrote. His family moved into a hotel at first and then a shelter for months before they finally got a house.

Two weeks after they moved in, police told them Ndayishimiye had been shot to death. He was known as "Jdub," and he had rapped on YouTube about "trying to make it out" of the subsidized housing community where he grew up and the challenges that came with it.

His sister wrote she "could never, ever have imagined" that after they grew up in a refugee camp, "his life would be cut short in a country that we considered an island of peace."

It's left her with nightmares to this day. And her nine-year-old son, who had to be moved along with everyone else, still runs and hides when someone knocks at their door, fears crowds and teenagers, and can't stand to hear rap music.

2 convicted

Two of four people charged in connection to Ndayishimiye's killing pleaded guilty Thursday and were convicted for the roles they played.

Neither were the alleged shooters, according to the agreed statement of facts read by assistant Crown attorney Jason Neubauer. Those two accused — both youths who cannot be identified due to a routine publication ban — are set to stand trial separately next year. The allegations against them have not been proven.

Noel Perez admitted to manslaughter for driving the suspected shooters to and from the scene in his father's truck, and for having the truck modified and cleaned to avoid detection after police broadcast photos of the truck.

He was sentenced to 15 years in prison with no credit for time served. That sentence is to be served concurrently with another sentence he's already in custody for.

Hantel Hersi admitted to being an accessory to manslaughter after the fact. He was with Perez and the suspected shooters in the truck on the night of the killing, and later helped Perez get to and from the auto body shop where the truck was modified and cleaned of trace evidence.

Hersi was given a suspended sentence of time served with three years of probation.

Both are barred from possessing weapons for life and can't communicate with or be anywhere near a long list of people, including Ndayishimiye's family and the other 16-year-old who survived the shooting.

The Crown and their defence lawyers had agreed to the sentences beforehand. Justice Anne London-Weinstein called the sentences "eminently reasonable" in the circumstances.

A targeted slaying

At 3:14 a.m. on Dec. 6, 2021, surveillance video showed two masked shooters circling and then entering a townhouse in Ottawa Community Housing's Pinecrest Terrace development, Neubauer told court.

They went upstairs to a bedroom where Ndayishimiye and another 16-year-old were sleeping, kicked the door open and shot both of them multiple times.

Ndayishimiye was closest to the door. He was shot in the face, neck and torso, and died at the scene.

The other 16-year-old was shot in the arm five times and once in the back, and survived. He attended the sentencing phase of Thursday's guilty pleas, and can't be identified because of a publication ban.

Perez and Hersi have declined to identify the shooters, Neubauer told court.

Celebratory video shared 3 hours later

After the suspected shooters hopped back into the truck, they drove to a highrise on Caldwell Avenue, where a video was made and shared on the social media platform Snapchat, Neubauer told court.

The video showed a crowd of people including Perez and Hersi in one of the highrise's apartments singing along to a song.

A subtitle displayed the words, "Why do the f--k do they keep trying to play with the reaper?"

In his sentencing submissions, Neubauer said the video and its "mood of celebration" after a series of events that caused "catastrophic harm to many people" was a concerning and aggravating factor in the case.

Crimes were brutal and cruel, judge says

Perez was represented by James Foord. Hersi was represented by Michelle O'Doherty and Sarah Ahsan.

In their sentencing submissions, Foord and Ahsan told London-Weinstein that the guilty pleas spared witnesses from having to testify again, and that the case faced significant delays and might have been tossed outright because of the delays.

Foord added that the pleas saved the justice system "precious resources."

After convicting Perez and Hersi, London-Weinstein told court that acts of gun violence in Ottawa are "reaching an unacceptable level.

"We don't want to be like Toronto, and yet repeatedly in these courts, this is what we're seeing."

She said "the brutality and the cruelty" of Perez and Hersi's crimes was "especially striking," and she told them she hopes this will be their signal to "depart the life."