Lawyers agree double-homicide case all hinges on a ‘liar’

The case against Brantford’s Salloum Jassem, who is accused of orchestrating the murders of Larry Reynolds and Lynn Van Every, hangs largely on the testimony of an obvious liar, said both the Crown and defense lawyers on Thursday.

Article content

The defense said Kareem Zedan, who has already been convicted of manslaughter in the case, had a clear agenda for pointing to Jassem as the man who sent killers to the home at 10 Park Rd. South in July 2019.

Article content

“He is unsavory and clearly provided evidence for ulterior motives,” said Jassem’s lawyer, Jaime Stephenson.

“His testimony was replete with inconsistencies and perjury. Every word he said requires scrutiny. It amounts to nothing more than a fanciful story.”

But Norfolk Crown attorney Shane Hickingbottom, who took the lead in the case, said Zedan’s evidence is only unreliable if it isn’t supported by other evidence heard at the trial.

“Kareem Zedan is a liar and a killer. He admitted as much,” Hickingbottom told Justice Joseph Henderson. “But based on the evidence, you can and should believe him.”

Article content

The Crown’s theory of the double homicides is that Jassem offered a contract on the life of drug-dealer Roger Van Every, who was under house arrest at his parents’ home; Zedan accepted a proffered $50,000 deal and then sent a shooter to the house who mistakenly targeted Van Every’s father.

The younger Van Every had been working for Jassem and his drug-dealing brother, Jassem Jassem, said Hickingbottom, but said Van Every didn’t want to take a deal offered by Jassem to go to prison for a big drug seizure in Jerseyville in 2018 in which Jassem’s brother was charged.

During the trial, the court heard how a car was stolen from a Paris man and taken to Toronto where it was eventually picked up by Zedan and a group of other men. In two vehicles, they came to Brantford, repeatedly circled the Reynolds/Van Every home, and eventually one of the men rushed to where Reynolds was watering his grass, shooting him and his nearby wife.

Article content

“Salloum Jassem contracted Zedan to kill ‘Sago’,” said Hickingbottom, using Roger Van Every’s nickname.

The Crown attorney showed the judge a presentation that tracked the GPS movements of the stolen car, and cell-tower tracking that showed phones connected to Jassem and Zedan, along with connections to Jassem’s family home at 1 Trillium Way.

Hickingbottom showed data that could connect Jassem and Zedan to a meet-up after the shooting and when they seemed to be heading to a second meeting that was aborted when Jassem told Zedan the wrong people had been shot.

And the Crown said the defense theory of a botched home invasion was absurd, noting Zedan himself said ‘Why would we shoot someone before we robbed them?’

Article content

“It’s moved beyond the realm of a series of innocent coincidences,” said Hickingbottom.

“The only acceptable scenario is that Salloum Jassem is guilty.”

But Stephenson said no piece of evidence presented during the three-week trial pointed to any involvement of Jassem in the matter.

She said the GPS, cell phone tower and phone usage data presented at trial was only suggestive and proved nothing.

Stephenson also pointed out that Roger Van Every himself expressed he thought he and Jassem had maintained a good relationship up until the day of the homicides – although during testimony he also said he was concerned after the shooting death of his friend, Coby Carter, eight days earlier.

“It was suggested his relationship with Mr. Jassem had become strained – he was viewed as untrustworthy and a liability. However, the evidence at this trial failed to establish any such motivation. The evidence is the opposite was true at that time.”

Article content

To bolster her theory that the group of men planned a home invasion, she reminded the judge that Zedan had been “scoping out” the house with a crew of four others and while wearing gloves and with a firearm in his backpack, which also included a hammer and change clothes.

Stephenson noted that whether Jassem operated a drug-trafficking enterprise had nothing to do with his trial on the murder charges.

“We are left with no real understanding of what happened.”

“The Crown’s reliance on this unsavoury, disreputable, self-interested, discredited witness” hasn’t established the link to Jassem, she said, urging the judge not to be swayed by the colorful presentations Hickingbottom showed him.

Justice Henderson said he expected it would take at least six weeks for him to review the evidence, testimony and final submissions in the case, which is expected to return to court on Nov. 23.

[email protected]

@EXPSGamble

Article content