As gunfire tore through a Bannatyne Street drug house, a 15-year-old boy hiding in a bedroom shot and killed a fellow drug dealer, mistaking him for one of their attackers, a court heard Wednesday.
The now 16-year-old accused has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the Nov. 12, 2023, killing of 20-year-old Pharell Asare.
Prosecutors are seeking a maximum youth sentence of three years, one year of which would be served out of custody in the community.
More than half a dozen of Asare’s family members — all wearing T-shirts with his picture on them — travelled from Toronto for the teen’s sentencing hearing.
At the conclusion of the day-long hearing, Asare’s grandmother strode angrily to the prisoner’s box and grasped the teen’s hand, yelling: “Well done; you are going to get the wrath of God! You know the truth!” before being ushered out of court by a sheriff’s officer.
Court heard the teen and Asare were both from Toronto and had made repeated trips to Winnipeg to traffic drugs “at the behest” of a Toronto crime ring.
An agreed statement of facts provided to court says Asare paid for the teen’s bus trip to Winnipeg on behalf of another crime-ring member and regularly paid the teen for his drug-trafficking involvement.
On the day of the killing, the teen and Asare were at a Bannatyne Street suite occupied by a woman who allowed drugs to be trafficked from her home in exchange for rent money and drugs.
At about 8:30 p.m., Asare, the teen and the woman were in the kitchen when there was a knock at the door followed by 11 gunshots into the kitchen.
The teen, who suffered grazing wounds to his neck and back, ran with Asare to a bedroom, where Asare handed him a loaded .40-calibre Glock handgun before leaving the room.
“He’s hunkered down in that bedroom, he’s handed a gun, hiding in the corner, fearing for his life,” the teen’s lawyer, Scott Newman told provincial court Judge Keith Eyrikson.
Moments later, the teen heard footsteps and saw a shadow entering the bedroom. He fired twice, shooting Asare in the head and killing him.
“He hears the footsteps of someone coming into the bedroom, not announcing their presence saying who they are, and he believes in his mind: ‘Here they are, they are coming to finish me off,’” Newman said. “He’s not going to stick his head out and get shot.”
Newman said the “exceptional facts” of the case were a key consideration in assessing the teen’s culpability, arguing a case for self-defence might have been made, had the matter gone to trial.
“The individual who brought (the teen) to that residence, to this city, who paid him to sell drugs and put him in danger, handed him the instrument of his own demise,” Newman said.
Police initially treated the teen, who claimed Asare was shot by one of the unidentified attackers, as a victim. He later told police he shot Asare, mistaking him for one of the gunmen.
Newman urged Eyrikson to sentence the teen to the equivalent of 18 months of time served and two years probation, a sentence that would allow him to return to Ontario, where he has been accepted into a rehabilitative program and can benefit from family supports.
“He’s a 15-year-old child who was being exploited by a criminal organization,” Newman said.
Court heard the teen’s parents were Jamaican immigrants and he was raised in high-crime areas of Toronto. His father was gang-involved, then turned his life around and spoke to students about the dangers of a criminal lifestyle, only to be murdered when his son was two years old.
“The tragedy of all of this is that he didn’t live long enough to share his experiences with his son,” Newman said.
Crown attorney Matt Armstrong said returning the teen to Ontario will only expose him to the same criminal element that landed him in custody.
A pre-sentence report prepared for court said the youth has been criminally involved since he was 14, when he began carrying a gun and made up to six trips to Winnipeg to sell drugs in the 11 months before Asare’s death.
“What happened that night was outside the young person’s control, he had reason to be afraid,” Armstrong said. “But we should not lose sight (of) why he was in that house.”
Despite the teen’s age, he was a “seasoned actor in the drug trade,” Armstrong said.
“He was part of an interprovincial drug operation that brought trafficking and violence to Manitoba,” he said.
Newman said the teen wants to put the criminal life behind him, but fears retribution.
“This isn’t an idle concern — it’s exactly what happened to his father,” he said.
Asare’s mother told court her son’s death has left his family in a state of grief, pain and anger.
“There is no more normal, no more happiness,” said Diamond Owusu.
John Mensah, Asare’s father, said he hopes the teen will eventually appreciate the pain he has caused his family
“Even though it hurts me very much, I cannot hold any animosity for what the accused has done,” Mensah said in a victim impact statement read out in court. “I hope and pray the accused will come to know what he has done and seek help in changing his life.”
Eyrikson will sentence the teen at a later date.
dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter
Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.
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