Jury finds Afrah Abdi guilty of 2nd degree murder in death of Logan Nayneecassum
A jury in Saskatoon has convicted Afrah Abdi of second-degree murder in the Aug. 21, 2020, shooting death of Logan Nayneecassum.
The 30-year-old died at Aria Food and Spirits, a bar in Saskatoon's Rosewood neighbourhood, after getting shot in the leg.
Abdi's trial at Court of King's Bench before Justice Mona Dovell began on Dec. 4. Prosecutor Michael Pilon called 11 witnesses over the course of the trial. Defence lawyer Leo Adler did not call Abdi to testify.
The fatal shooting was caught on the bar's security cameras. At the time, the shooter was known to bar staff and customers by the nickname 'Tax.' The central issue at the trial was whether the man shown on the video was the same man sitting across from jurors in the courtroom.
"I will suggest identity is the key issue," Justice Dovell said in her instructions to the jury.
Logan Nayneecassum, in the centre with hands raised, is shown seconds before getting fatally shot. (Court of King's Bench)
The jurors spent the first two days of the trial watching hours of video of a group of men and women socializing in the bar. The footage begins with the man identified as "the shooter" arriving just after midnight and then tracks him until the shooting, just before 3 a.m. CST. The footage alternated between colour and black and white, and there was no sound.
The players in the case were seen drinking and doing shots at the bar, going outside for cigarette breaks, exchanging fist-bumps and high fives, and laughing.
Almost an hour after closing time, a group of five First Nations men came into the bar. They became engaged in a confrontation with the man known as 'Tax.'
Nayneecassum was shot in the leg moments later. Pathologist Shaun Ladham testified that the bullet severed two major blood vessels.
"Unless this [gunshot wound] happened on an operating table, it would be lethal," Ladham said.
"It's like cutting a hose."
High speed chase
Police issued a Canada-wide warrant for Abdi's arrest within days of the shooting, but it wasn't until he illegally crossed into the U.S. in early 2021 that he was arrested.
It began on Jan. 23 at around 9 a.m. CST on the border near West Kootenai, according to an affidavit filed by U.S. Border Patrol agent Seth Justesen.
"Border Patrol Dispatch received trail camera activations notification indicating three subjects dressed in camouflage and dark clothing carrying black backpacks crossing the border from Canada into the United States," he wrote.
Half an hour later, another agent spotted a black Nissan Sentra leaving the area where the trio had crossed. The windows were fogged "but they were able to see multiple occupants."
Agents converged on the car, flashing their emergency lights to pull it over. It did, but when two officers approached on foot, the driver bolted.
The car headed south from Eureka, near the Alberta border, toward Whitefish. Justesen said officers radioed ahead the description of the car but backed off because of bad roads and the excessive speed.
"The Nissan Sentra continued at high rates of speed heading southeast on Highway 93 toward Whitefish, Montana. Flathead County Sheriffs Office (FCSO) and Montana Highway Patrol (MHP) were notified of the incoming pursuit," Justesen wrote.
"MHP and FCSO deployed a Vehicle Immobilization Device on the Nissan Sentra ... [which] ultimately came to a stop down a small embankment off the highway, approximately four miles [6.4 kilometres] from Whitefish, Montana. FCSO and MHP made contact with the four occupants and placed them under arrest."
Abdi was eventually sent back to Canada.
A second-degree murder conviction comes with an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for at least 10 years. The lawyers return to court Jan. 26 to argue for the parole eligibility period.
Adler said outside court that Abdi has instructed him to appeal the conviction. He did not elaborate on the possible grounds.
