The jury within the trial of Umar Zameer may start deliberations this week because the Crown and Protection are set for closing arguments.
Zameer is charged with first-degree homicide within the demise of Detective Constable Jeffrey Northrup. The officer died after he was hit by a car in a parking storage beneath Toronto Metropolis Corridor on July 2, 2021.
Felony defence lawyer, Joseph Neuberger, just isn’t concerned within the Zameer case however has been following the trial and has given some perception about what the jury decides.
“The crown has to ascertain to the jury past an affordable doubt that Mr. Zameer knew that the people who had approached his automobile had been law enforcement officials,” defined Neuberger. “And thereby his actions at the moment that brought on his demise had been additionally intentional … I believe that’s a particularly excessive hurdle for the Crown to ascertain.”
The court docket has beforehand heard that Const. Northrup and his companion — each wearing plain garments — had been investigating a stabbing after they went into the underground storage. Zameer was not concerned within the stabbing.
Crown prosecutors allege Zameer selected to make a sequence of maneuvers along with his automobile that brought on Const. Northrup’s demise, however the defence says the officer’s demise was a tragic accident.
Defence attorneys say neither Zameer nor his spouse — who was eight months pregnant on the time — knew that the individuals who approached them within the largely empty parking storage had been law enforcement officials. Their two-year-old son was additionally with them on the time.
Neuberger stated it’s potential the jury may come again with a verdict on a lesser, included offence, one being second-degree homicide.
“The jury must be left [beyond] an affordable doubt that Mr. Zameer didn’t know they had been law enforcement officials however supposed to kill an individual on the evening in query,” defined Neuberger. “I discover that incongruent with the proof and incongruent with the speculation of the Crown. Though which may be left to the jury as a part of the sequence of offenses which may be included, I simply don’t assume that may be a believable verdict accessible to the jury.”
Manslaughter could be an alternative choice, Neuberger stated. “That he didn’t know that the officer was certainly a police officer however that his actions realizing that there have been individuals in entrance of him or behind him did doubtless trigger hurt and anyone died.”
One other chance: acquittal.
“I believe one of many actually tough issues right here for the crown lawyer is there’s no actual good reason why Mr. Zameer would deliberately strike a police officer along with his automobile,” stated one other legal defence lawyer, Daniel Brown.
“He’s all the time stated he didn’t know they had been police. He thought he was being robbed. He thought him and his household had been at risk. He had his spouse who was pregnant and his younger baby within the automobile. And he wasn’t as much as no good. He was an accountant with no legal historical past, not committing any crime,” defined Brown.
“So why wouldn’t he have stopped for the police if he knew the police had been making an attempt to talk to him? And so this concept of this case makes much more sense than the Crown’s concept of the case that he knew they had been a police and he tried to hit them anyway.”
All through the trial, the jury has heard vastly totally different depictions of what occurred that evening in July 2021. Three law enforcement officials offered eyewitness testimony claiming that Detective Constable Jeffrey Northrup was standing along with his arms up the second earlier than he was fatally struck.
However collision reconstruction specialists, one with Toronto police and one other for the defence, have refuted that proof, testifying that Northrup would have fallen to the bottom earlier than he was fatally run over.
Northrup’s companion, Lisa Forbes, advised court docket she recognized herself a number of occasions to Zameer and held out her badge. Zameer testified that he didn’t know they had been law enforcement officials and didn’t see any badges.
“I assume in these information, it’s pretty clear, together with his spontaneous utterances proper after his arrest, that he wasn’t conscious that they had been police officers, that he thought they had been being robbed, and he was in concern and making an attempt to flee for the security of his household, that actually this is a state of affairs the place it’s a tragic accident,” stated Neuberger.
The jury is anticipated to listen to closing statements from the Crown and defence on Tuesday.
With recordsdata from The Canadian Press
