Defence points to dead drug boss, gunman in Marko Bakir murder trial

Hamilton Spectator

7 days ago

The defence case for Alessandro Giammichele focused on Salloum Jassem and Abdelaziz Ibrahim on Friday at the John Sopinka Courthouse.
Giammichele is charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Marko Bakir. He has pleaded not guilty.
Bakir, 31, was shot five times in the driveway of his west Mountain home around 8:15 p.m. on Nov. 22, 2018, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Assistant Crown attorney Elise Quinn previously told the jury
of eight men and four women
that while Giammichele didn't physically pull the trigger, he played a 'fundamental role' in the killing. The Crown and defence have agreed Ibrahim, who is now dead, shot Bakir.
In 2018, Bakir
, who had recently been awarded a $362,000 settlement following a motorcycle crash,
lent Giammichele $100,000 to invest, Quinn previously told the jury. The loan came with a contract and repayment schedule — but Giammichele didn't pay it back.
Defence lawyer Kendra Stanyon, in presenting the case for the defence, read an agreed statement of facts that both Crown and defence agree Jassem, who is now deceased, was a 'major drug supplier' in Brantford and the surrounding area and had a 'network of subordinates and access to firearms.'
The Crown and defence also agreed York Regional Police executed a search warrant at a Brantford address related to Jassem, as well as another related to Ibrahim in Hamilton. Three phones were seized from the Jassem residence and two from Ibrahim's.
The jury previously heard that Giammichele appears to have called both Jassem and Ibrahim on the day of Bakir's murder.
According to another agreed statement of facts, Crown and defence agree Giammichele was shot in a driveway in Mississauga around 1:40 a.m. on Sept. 17, 2019. Peel police found a tracker on the car Giammichele was driving at the time. Police have never charged anyone in connection with the crime.
Stanyon also filed an affidavit that the tracker was linked to a phone number that appears in one of Jassem's phones as 'Zizo 2019.'
Ibrahim's former girlfriend Breanna Lefneski previously told the court his nickname was 'Zezo.'
Det.-Const. Matt Robinson, who examined the phones for Hamilton police, testified none of the phones appears to have been in use in November 2018. He added there were no communications in the phones about Marko Bakir's murder, and Bakir's and Giammichele's names and numbers did not appear.
The jury also saw WhatsApp messages of Jassem negotiating to buy numerous handguns and references to him having 'a lot of shooters.'
Robinson testified Mark Buzzelli was arrested for accessory after the fact on Nov. 9, 2022, and, on Nov. 10, he contacted the jail to keep Buzzelli and Giammichele separate.
He said that call was made to ensure Buzzelli's safety, as he said generally when people speak to police in violent crime cases, their safety can be at risk.
Robinson also told the jury he warned the detention centre after Giammichele was arrested for Bakir's murder on May 18, 2022, in Thunder Bay that Toronto or Brantford gang members 'may want to harm' him.
The trial continues Monday.