CHARGES STAYED IN BAR MURDER
Louie Rosella
Staff
Peel Crown Attorney has decided not to prosecute a 25 year old man initially charged in connection with a shooting at a city center bar last summer.
Yesterday in Brampton court, Crown prosecutors stayed charges against Kurt Downer, who was charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder in August 30 shooting at D Martini lounge that claimed the life of Joines Connolly and badly injured the victim’s 22 year old friend.
Downer’s lawyer, Gary Batasar and Michael Moon, said their client has maintained his innocence all along.
“He was released and he walked out of the courthouse with his mother,” said Batasar. “My client is extremely relived.”
Evidence and other details presented during the preliminary hearing remain under a publication ban.
Downer is serving a sentence on a unrelated matter at a federal jail when the Peel Regional Police charged him with the D Martini murder last fall.
Imo Atiba Lewis, 23, of no fixed address, is still facing charges of first-degree murder and attempted murder in connection with the double shooting, while 19 year old Shemmiha Duhaney was charged this week with being an accessory after the fact.
Police say a gunman approached Connolly, who was seated at a table with two other people, and opened fire.
Police say the friend, not Connolly, was the intended target.
Investigators believe a man known to the victims had information they were at D Martini Lounge and sent an accomplice to shoot them. Investigative sources say the motive appears to be money and a woman.
Meanwhile, homicide investigators are still looking for a man they describe as the key witness in the case, 24-years-old Antonio Ney Escorcia Calvo.
In late April, Peel police received a word from officers in Montreal the Calvo was in the area. On May 3, Peel police issued a “witness warrant” or warrant for Calvo’s arrest.