A man pulled over by Winnipeg police argued in court he couldn’t have broken his curfew because he was still allowed out of his house — in Alberta.
Samatar Mohiadin, 26, who city police have identified as originally from Toronto, was convicted in Manitoba provincial court of failing to comply with a condition of a release order, specifically that he remain in Alberta, in November 2022.
He appealed that ruling in December, arguing the trial judge made a legal error in considering whether he committed the offence.
Court of Appeal Justice Anne Turner, in an April 18 written decision signed by two other judges of the court, dismissed his appeal.
Mohiadin and two other were pulled over by Winnipeg police, allegedly driving a stolen vehicle, at about 7:55 p.m. that night in August 2021.
Police found a loaded handgun with a tampered serial number. He and the other men were charged with a slew of gun offences, but the weapons charges against Mohiadin were stayed.
At the time, he was subject to an Alberta release order, which included conditions that he abide by a curfew of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. at an address in Edmonton, and that he remain in Alberta.
He suggested at trial that he was on the way to the airport to fly home to Edmonton, but presented no evidence.
“The accused argues that he had not yet breached his curfew because, when he was stopped by police in Winnipeg, it was only 6:55 p.m. in Edmonton,” wrote Turner.
“The accused asserts that the trial judge’s finding that he was not on his way to the airport to get home for his 10 p.m. curfew was unsupported by the evidence and was speculative.”
The Crown prosecutor said by putting himself in the situation where it was impossible to comply with the curfew, Mohiadin committed the crime, wrote Turner.
The Court of Appeal agreed with the Crown’s analysis, finding the judge properly assessed the elements of the offence. It also found the verdict was reasonable.
The appeal court asked Mohiadin’s lawyer and the Crown whether the Canadian legal principle against multiple convictions for the same offence should apply in the case, but ultimately found that the applying the principle would not be appropriate.
More recently, Mohiadin was deemed a homicide suspect in a 2022 Alberta bar shooting.
Winnipeg police arrested Mohiadin, along with two other Ontario men, in a drug-trafficking probe on Dec. 3 last year.
Guns and gangs investigators raided two homes in Winnipeg with warrants, where they seized a Glock pistol, ammunition, just over 500 grams of cocaine, 2.5 kilograms of fentanyl, 461 grams of heroin, opioid pills, a drug cutting agent and $7,000 in cash.
Winnipeg police charged Mohiadin with several drug trafficking and gun offences that remain before the court, but also arrested him on the strength of a first-degree murder warrant obtained by the Edmonton Police Service.
Mohiadin was then transferred to Edmonton, where he was charged with first-degree murder, seven counts of aggravated assault and firearm charges related to his alleged role in a deadly shooting at a lounge in that city in March 2022. Eight people were shot, one fatally. Edmonton police have five suspects in the shooting.
erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca
Erik Pindera
Reporter
Erik Pindera reports for the city desk, with a particular focus on crime and justice.