Scammer
Banned
Ephraim Brown, 11, was hit by a stray bullet during a shootout near a house where a birthday party was being held in 2007.
The cousin of slain Toronto boy Ephraim Brown has testified bullets were still flying through the air when she and her mother pulled the stricken 11-year-old indoors.
Kishauna Thomas, a key Crown witness, said on Tuesday that she found Ephraim on the ground after he had been shot in the throat.
The Crown alleges Brown was caught in the middle of rival gang gunfire while attending Thomas's 18th birthday party in the backyard of a townhouse complex in the Sheppard Avenue and Jane Street neighbourhood at around 1 a.m. on July 22, 2007.
Gregory Sappleton and Akiel Eubank, both in their mid-20s, are each charged with first-degree murder.
Pause in proceedings
Thomas's testimony followed a brief pause in the court proceedings that came after three men entered the courtroom as observers. None of the three had attended the trial before. One man was wearing sunglasses, which he removed at the request of a court official.
Shortly after the men entered, Thomas requested a bathroom break. Police Det.-Sgt. Gary Giroux and a court worker followed her out. When they returned, Giroux spoke with Crown lawyers Craig Harper and Donna Armstrong, who repeatedly turned to look at the three men at the back of the courtroom.
CBC reporters overheard court officials saying Thomas didn't want to continue testifying while the men were there. The Crown lawyers, meanwhile, started speaking to the defence attorneys.
During the discussion, the three men got up and left. Thomas then continued her testimony.
She started crying after she told the court she spoke to police for the first time shortly after Ephraim was pronounced dead. It was the first time she had lost her composure during two days of testimony.
Thomas said on Monday that she saw Eubank and Sappleton shoot at each other.
Thomas said Sappleton — who she said went by the nickname "Redz" — was a member of the Baghdad Crew. Members of that gang wore red, she said, and were associated with a bigger gang called the Bloods. The Crown alleges Eubank was a member of the Five Point Generalz.
Crown lawyers have not said which of the two accused they believe fired the deadly bullet. At the time of their arrest, police said a first-degree murder charge is standard for participants in a fatal gunfight in a public area.
The trial continues Wednesday.
