Reeyaz Habib<\/a>, a 53-year-old filmmaker who lived alone, when he testified during the trial.<\/p>\n\u201cOn May 20, 2023, a heated dispute over Mr. Tran\u2019s barbecue occurred. Habib was upset about the smoke and the smell reaching his condo. He slammed the door,\u201d said Tenhouse.<\/p>\n
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\u201cHabib threatened to spread rumours that Mr. Tran was using a propane barbecue. He accused him of trafficking his wife\u2019s friend Linh Hua, a friend from Vietnam who was living with the couple. Habib threatened to have him removed from the complex.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all heard Mr. Tran\u2019s version of events. He said it made him mad and vengeful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tenhouse said that while Nguyen and Hua slept in the couple\u2019s bedroom, Tran had exclusive opportunity to move in and out of Habib\u2019s home in the night undetected.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Tran was not in a good place. He felt threatened by Habib. He was not working. His wife was supporting him and now he might lose his place in Liberty Village,\u201d which Tenhouse said was a place he loved.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsider his demeanour when he testified. Why did he throw out Mr. Habib\u2019s bike and computer bag? He was angry enough to kill him and then dispose of his body,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Tenhouse said that Tran chose to confront Habib at 3 a.m. on a work day. \u201cHe knew Mr. Habib lived alone. There was no one to witness the killing. There was no one to intervene. Why would he confront him then? He intended to kill him,\u201d said Tenhouse.<\/p>\n
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Tenhouse reminded the jury that Linh Hua testified she was awakened by the screams for help and that she\u2019d never heard anything like that before.<\/p>\n
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Tenhouse said the pathologist testified the injuries could have been the result of a beating, with the fire extinguisher.<\/p>\n
\u201cEqually plausible. The attack could cause him to fall down the stairs,\u201d said Tenhouse.<\/p>\n
She said Tran embarked on an elaborate cleanup and disposal of Habib\u2019s personal items to make it look like he disappeared. \u201cHe created a web of deceit to try to cover up the murder. He went to great lengths to conceal the body,\u201d Tenhouse told the jury, saying he misled investigators.<\/p>\n
She called Habib defenceless with no one to assist him when he was confronted by Tran in the middle of the night. \u201cHe was angry. He was revengeful. He wanted to win the fight. He wanted to eliminate Mr. Habib.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tenhouse pointed out there was a neighbour who testified she saw Tran leaving Habib\u2019s apartment on June 7, 2023 and locking the door, the day after the screams were heard by a number of witnesses.<\/p>\n
Someone used Habib\u2019s fob five times on June 8th between 3:55 and 4:55 am to access the underground.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe suggest that someone is Mr. Tran,\u201d explained Tenhouse, pointing out that when no one helped move the body wrapped in towels and blankets into the garbage bin, he enlisted his wife to help him move the dead body.<\/p>\n
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The Crown said that Tran also left his personal identifiers behind, including video surveillance showing a man disposing of items in garbage bins, Tran\u2019s DNA on the duct tape handle wrapped about the blanket which the body was wrapped in, and his fingerprints on the duct tape and on a handwritten note next to the body.<\/p>\n
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Tran\u2019s defence lawyer, Liam O\u2019Connor, said in his closing address that his client is not guilty, saying the intentional killing of someone who lives right above you makes little sense. Also not consistent with common sense is cleaning up for a couple of days afterwards with neighbours to see, nor writing a note asking staff or a stranger to assist with disposal, said O\u2019Connor.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhoever is doing this, it\u2019s amateur hour,\u201d said O\u2019Connor, referring to walking around in public areas where you know there are cameras.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Connor said we may never know what happened in Unit 218 in the Liberty Village complex, but said his client is innocent.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Connor pointed out that the pathologist noted Habib\u2019s injuries may have been consistent with falling down stairs.<\/p>\n
He called the Crown\u2019s theory that Habib was beaten was not grounded in evidence and speculative.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes there are accidents. Sometimes there are tragedies. I submit that this is an awful tragedy. I submit it is not a murder,\u201d said O\u2019Connor.<\/p>\n
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Nguyen\u2019s lawyer, Tyler Smith, said the only evidence the Crown has that his client was involved in being an accessory and helping dispose of Habib\u2019s body is the fact that her DNA cannot be excluded from being on the duct tape on a handle wrapped around the blanket, which concealed the body.<\/p>\n
Smith said the expert from the Centre for Forensic Sciences who testified could not address when the DNA may have been deposited and said it\u2019s possible there was cross-contamination or transfer from other sources including within the garbage bin.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did the tape come from? Did it come from her condo? Did she handle it a month or a year before? These are things that can\u2019t be ruled out or determined,\u201d said Smith.<\/p>\n
He also told the jury there is no evidence that Nguyen knew that her husband unlawfully killed Habib.<\/p>\n
Smith said when Nguyen told Hua not to speak to police, that was advice she had been given from her lawyer, given Tran had just been arrested for indignity to a dead body and obstructing justice.<\/p>\n
Smith said at the time, Tran had not been charged with murder.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Crown has proven nothing more than suspicion and conjecture\u2026 she deserves to be acquitted,\u201d said Smith, calling the evidence circumstantial<\/p>\n
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The jury is expected to begin deliberations next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The fate of a Liberty Village couple charged in relation to the death of their upstairs neighbour, whose…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[255068,49,48,2169,131111,3302,80129],"class_list":["post-700390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-bbq-smoke-dispute","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-crime","tag-second-degree-murder","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-crime"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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