A woman broke down in tears Thursday as she described witnessing her ex-boyfriend get shot and killed outside a troubled Winnipeg home.
Marilia Martins is a key Crown witness in the second-degree murder trial against Cory Owen Bushie. He allegedly gunned down 20-year-old Aaron Nabess in July 2007 in a back lane behind a known crack house at 575 Magnus Ave.
Martins, 28, says she clearly saw Bushie pull out a gun and shoot Nabess after the two men got into a dispute while she and a friend stood a short distance away. The four had just left the North End home, where a party was going on inside.
"Aaron told Cory 'I can get my boys' and Cory said '(Expletive) your boys'," said Martins. "Then Cory pulled out the gun. He shot him."
Bushie immediately fled, while a fatally wounded Nabess staggered away from the scene before collapsing nearby.
"He fell down, holding himself on the left side. He got up and started walking away, limping," Martins told jurors. She and her friend ran to another nearby home and never called 911.
"I was freaking out. I was scared to say anything," she said. Martins was interviewed by police the next day and initially claimed to have no knowledge of the killing.
"I was scared what might happen to me and my kids," said the mother of three. But she eventually identified Bushie as the killer.
Another friend of the victim told jurors last week how Nabess was selling drugs out of the crack house. Alex Murdock said Nabess and several other people were drinking beer through the evening until he ordered Martins, her friend and Bushie to leave after he heard his new girlfriend being threatened.
He said a few minutes later Nabess went outside and a few minutes after that "I heard a big bang at the door. I opened it and I see my friend (Nabess) lying on the floor... I lifted his shirt and saw the wounds. I said, 'Oh my God, he's been shot.'" Murdock didn't actually see who pulled the trigger.
The killing capped a wave of gun violence in the neighbourhood and prompted immediate action from Winnipeg police and politicians. Mayor Sam Katz and acting police chief Menno Zacharias responded to the attacks by announcing stepped-up police patrols in the area, which some residents had started calling "Homicide Heights." Twelve extra patrol units were assigned to the area.
Bushie's trial is expected to end next week with closing arguments and jury deliberations.
I am disappointed because this article is biased towards the Crown's opinion and arguments and fails to even mention what Bushnie's defence lawyer argued or the possible inconsistencies in the witness's testimony. This will give the public the wrong perception that this man committed the act, which may or may not be true. This article also does not mention any mitigating factors or background life of the accused.
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