Lawyers paint 2 portraits of Dale King in final arguments of Yosif Al-Hasnawi case

King says he shot Al-Hasnawi in self-defence

Image | Yosif Al-Hasnawi

Caption: Yosif Al-Hasnawi, 19, was shot and killed in Hamilton on Dec. 2, 2017. (Al-Mostafa Islamic Centre)

Was Dale King a loyal friend who fired a single bullet to save his best friend from an agitated, threatening foe? Or was he a violent drug dealer who flashed a gun at four kids outside a mosque, then shot one for disrespecting him?
That's a question a Hamilton jury will have to answer this week as they wrap up a three-week trial.
King, 21, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Yosif Al-Hasnawi. Al-Hasnawi was a Good Samaritan, police say, because he intervened when King and James Matheson were bothering an older man.
King admits he shot the 19-year-old Brock University student in the abdomen on Dec. 2, 2017. But he did it in self defence, he says, because he thought Al-Hasnawi was about to stab Matheson. When he found out Al-Hasnawi died, he said, he screamed into his pillow.
The Crown, meanwhile, says King was a self-styled tough guy. He was full of bravado, or "juice," said assistant Crown attorney Gord Akilie in his closing argument Monday. He was annoyed that Al-Hasnawi confronted him, Akilie said. So he shot him and laughed about it.

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In the trial of the so-called "Good Samaritan case," the narratives have shifted from day to day.
Monday's closing arguments even painted varying portraits of the victim. Defence attorney Jonathan Shime said Al-Hasnawi was taller and bigger than King, and intimidating. He even had trace amounts of meth in his system, Shime said. That could have made him aggressive.
Toxicology evidence, Akilie pointed out, shows that's unlikely. He portrayed Al-Hasnawi as a well-intentioned teenager, someone standing up for an older man he didn't even know.
He chased King, Akilie suggested, because "he just got sucker-punched and embarrassed in front of his 13-year-old brother who looks up to him, and the two twins."

'Boom!'

The case dates back to Dec. 2, 2017. That's when Al-Hasnawi gave a religious reading at a Main Street East mosque. On a break, he stepped outside with his 13-year-old brother Ahmed and 16-year-old twin brothers Haider and Mustafa Ameer.
Around 8:52 p.m., Paul Cowell ambled down the other side of the street. King and Matheson walked behind him. King said they laughed because Cowell was yelling to himself. Matheson, King said, started imitating how Cowell walked.
Al-Hasnawi shouted for them to stop, and the pair crossed the street. The conversation turned tense, and King flashed his gun. Al-Hasnawi, witnesses say, said he wasn't afraid of a gun.
Matheson punched Al-Hasnawi. "Boom!" King recalled him saying. The pair ran and Al-Hasnawi chased them. Al-Hasnawi, King said, nearly caught up to Matheson. King was in the lead, and said he fired once as he ran.
Al-Hasnawi died in hospital an hour later. Witnesses say he received shoddy treatment from paramedics. Two of those paramedics face their own trials in January.

Children in front of a mosque

Akilie poked holes in King's version of what happened that night. Flashing a loaded weapon, Akilie said, isn't a de-escalation technique. He also disputed that King fired while running. If true, the bullet would have hit Matheson.
Akilie also doubted Al-Hasnawi and three adolescents intimidated King.
"These are kids," Akilie said of their appearance that night. "That's self evident to anyone. These are children and they're standing outside of a mosque. If these guys are threatening then your perception is altered in some way."
Shime, meanwhile, said King is a former foster child from an abusive background. He lives by a street code, Shime said. And on the streets of Hamilton, you don't chase someone with a gun unless you're armed too.
King just wanted to protect his friend, Shime said.

'That didn't stop Yosif'

"Back at the mosque, Dale had tried, as you heard, to calm the situation down, to diffuse it," he said. "But that didn't stop Yosif."
King dealt drugs, Shime said. But only to survive. King acted, he said, because "his friend was screaming for help." He also disputed that King laughed after the shooting.
During the trial, the Crown called Matheson as a witness. Matheson pleaded guilty last year to obstruction of justice.
On the stand, though, he told the court he couldn't remember what he wore, where he went or who he talked to that night.
He also said he was probably lying to police just to reach a deal and get out of jail.
The jury begins deliberations Tuesday.