A Winnipeg man acquitted in a high-profile gang killing seven years ago has now been found not guilty in the attempted murder of a second man beaten and left for dead on a snow-covered riverbank.
Sitting in the prisoner’s box in a dark suit and tie, 32-year-old Akech Ajak smiled and nodded at his lawyer as provincial court Judge Keith Eyrikson delivered his ruling Tuesday afternoon.
Ajak was one of three suspects arrested after a man in his mid-20s was found severely injured on a snowbank near the Red River in St. Andrews, with no jacket or shoes on Nov. 20, 2021.
Eyrikson said inconsistencies in the victim’s testimony, his own criminal history — including convictions for violence and misleading police — and a lack of independent corroborating evidence, left him unable to conclude Ajak was one of the attackers.
“There is no doubt that (the victim) is absolutely essential to the Crown’s case,” Eyrikson said. “Without his identification of Mr. Ajak, the Crown’s case is simply not tenable.
“While I am left with some suspicions on the matter, they are just that. It would be dangerous to convict on the evidence before me on the issue of identity,” the judge said.
The victim, who was severely injured in an earlier, unrelated attack that resulted in the removal of part of his skull, testified at trial he had been lured out of his home and into a waiting car, where Ajak, co-accused Adem Mohamed and two other men attacked him and demanded $100,000.
The man said at one point in his hours-long ordeal, he was taken to the basement of a home and tied to a chair. The man said Ajak stabbed him in the neck and pointed a gun at his head, threatening to shoot him if he didn’t come up with the money Ajak and his cohorts were demanding.
The man, who court heard knew Ajak when they both lived in Africa, testified that Ajak may have attacked him in the belief he had implicated him in a crime.
The attackers dumped the severely injured man in the snow with no jacket or shoes near the Red River in St. Andrews, where a passerby heard his cries for help.
Eyrikson said the victim did not identify Ajak as one of his attackers until five days later in a video police statement, and made no mention until months later that Ajak had allegedly stabbed him and threatened him with a gun.
“Incremental disclosures are routine in criminal law,” notably in case of domestic violence, Eyrikson said. “The difficulty in this case is that at no time was (the victim) specifically asked (at trial) why he made disclosures incrementally at several key points.”
Mohamed, 20, and another accused, Ernest Everett, 46, pleaded guilty last year to kidnapping and robbery and were sentenced to four years and 33 months, respectively.
In 2017, Ajak was acquitted of first-degree murder in the shooting death of gang member William Moar inside a Main Street eatery.
Moar, a 24-year-old member of the B-Side street gang, was gunned down inside Johnny G’s restuarant in the early morning hours of Feb. 15, 2013.
Dylan Chatkana, a 15-year-old member of the Mad Cowz street gang at the time of the killing and the one found to have shot Moar, was sentenced as an adult to life in prison with no chance of parole for seven years. Co-accused Morgan Bone pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Court of King’s Bench Justice Vic Toews said while it “was likely” Ajak was involved “in some fashion” in the murder, he was not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt.
Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter
Someone once said a journalist is just a reporter in a good suit. Dean Pritchard doesn’t own a good suit. But he knows a good lawsuit.
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