Unwilling witnesses sentenced to years in prison
A Winnipeg judge delivered stiff sentences Friday morning to two men who refused to testifyat the trial of a man convicted of killing a Winnipeg teen in 2005.
Queen's Bench Justice Albert Clearwater described the actions of Gharib Abdullah and Cory Amyotte as "continued, repeated interference with the administration of justice" before sentencing Abdullah to3½ years and Amyotte tofour years in a federalpenitentiary for contempt of court.
The two men, both 20 years old,join another man, 19-year-old Jammal Jacob, who was sentenced earlier this month to three years for the same offence at the same trial.
The three men refused to take an oath or give eyewitness testimony about a gang-related turf war in October 2005 that resulted in the shooting death of Phil Haiart, 17,and another man, who inadvertently walked into the gunfire.
Paul Cooper, the lawyer representing the two men, had asked for a 90-day sentence for the infractions.
He told the court both men feared for their personal safety and that of their families if they testified.
But Crown counsel Jean McBride said the two men "chose the lifestyle" of members of a Winnipeg street gang and it was "not acceptable to say, 'I am scared,' and refuse to testify."
Abdullah is currently fighting a deportation order to his native Iraq. He offered, through his lawyer, to retract his appeal of the deportation and save the government the costs of keeping him in jail.
Clearwater said it wasn't within his court's jurisdiction to consider an offer dealing with immigration matters.
He recommended that neither man be eligible for early release. The sentences forall threeare considered to be stiffer than average for contempt of court sentences.
The jury in the trial of the 19-year-old man accused of killing Haiartdelivered guilty verdicts Thursday on four charges: one charge of second-degree murder and three charges of attempted murder.
The accused, who by law cannot be named because he was a minor at the time of the shooting, was acquitted of three counts of discharging a firearm.