Trial opens for Brantford man gunned down
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A moment before being gunned down on the stairs of an Alfred Street home, Brantford’s Nebiyu Myers heard a knock at the door of the home he was visiting and waved away his host who was prepared to answer it.
“It’s for me,” Myers told David Thompson, who testified Friday at the trial of Elijah Marfoh, 20, of Brantford, and Cleveland Vanevery, 21, of Ohsweken.
A moment later, five shots were heard and Myers tumbled down the stairs, resting on the lower landing in a pool of blood.
As the first day of evidence was presented in the trial of Marfoh and Vanevery, accused of first-degree murder, a jury heard on Friday that the last person to communicate with Myers was Marfoh, who was 18 years old at the time.
In a statement of facts read into the record, all six lawyers involved in the case agreed that when Marfoh and Vanevery, who was 19 at the time, were arrested four days later in Toronto, one of the two firearms found in Marfoh’s waistband was the Smith and Wesson handgun that caused Myers’ death.
Justice Ian Smith told a six-man, six-woman jury impaneled for the five-week trial that it was agreed Marfoh and Vanevery had met together shortly before 1 p.m. and had a prearranged meeting with Myers.
“During that meeting, an incident took place that resulted in Elijah Marfoh discharging the handgun,” said Smith.
After five shots were discharged, Marfoh returned to the Sonata which video surveillance had captured moments earlier being driven by Vanevery.
Thompson testified he and Myers were friends although the young man also was his drug dealer, supplying him with occasional crack cocaine to feed his long-time addiction.
He said Myers wanted to visit early that day, seeming to need to get away from a situation, and brought some cocaine that Thompson used.
At one point the two watched a Mission Impossible movie.
Myers took a number of phone calls through the morning and went to a nearby store.
When the knock came at Thompson’s door and Myers went to get it, Thompson, who was heading to his bedroom to change, heard voices and an initial bang.
“I thought somebody had broken something, it was so loud.”
After more shots, Thompson retreated to his room.
“I didn’t see a gun but I know the sound of firearms.”
For a few moments, Thompson hid in his bedroom, “waiting for someone to come in and shoot me.”
After hearing someone leave, he investigated, found Myers laying near the bottom of the stairs and immediately called police.
Under cross examination, Marfoh’s defence lawyer Ehsan Ghebrai, urged Thompson to admit that, at the time of Myers’ death, Thompson had been ignoring his medical needs and dealing with edema, glaucoma, and cataracts and, at the trial, was wearing a hearing aid.
Thompson said he stopped using crack cocaine immediately after the death of Myers and has since got a disability pension that has allowed him to address all his medical issues.
The jury also heard an opening statement from assistant Crown attorney Alex Burns, who promised he would present evidence to point to Marfoh, seen by witnesses wearing a black balaclava as he approached the house, firing the shot that killed Myers.
Brantford Police Sgt. Kevin Caural also testified about arriving at the crime scene, finding a distraught Thompson sitting on the stairs, before moving through the house to ensure it was safe.
“Going up the stairs I observed one of the victim’s shoes near the middle of the staircase and blood on the wall,” Caural said. “There were a couple of gold shell casings on the stairs.”
Ghebrai closely questioned Caural about how an officer would respond if someone came at him, pointing a gun.
“You wouldn’t fire a warning shot? Wouldn’t you shoot them as many times as possible assuming they intend to end your life?”
“Yes,” said Caural.
The trial continues next week.
SGamble@postmedia.com
@EXPSGamble
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