3 men guilty of 1st-degree murder in 2021 Mississauga shooting
CBC
Three men have been found guilty of first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder in a Mississauga restaurant shooting that killed one and left four injured three years ago.
Anand Nath, the shooter, Suliman Raza, the getaway driver and Naqash Abbasi, the mastermind behind the attack face an automatic life sentence with no possibility of parole for 25 years.
The 12-member jury delivered their verdict after just over a day of deliberations at the Superior Court in Brampton before Justice David Harris.
The verdict comes after a five-week trial held in the May 29, 2021 shooting at the family-owned Chicken Land restaurant that left Naim Akl, 25, dead and his mother, father, brother, and a delivery driver wounded.
As the verdict was read aloud, Nath shed tears while Raza gave him a hug.
Abbasi's parents were present in the room. His mother cried when her son was convicted.
Before exiting the courtroom, Raza turned and smiled at the Akl family.
Lawyers for the three men refused to comment, saying they are processing the verdict. Adam Newman, who represented Abbasi, said he is "disappointed, for now."
Justice Harris said it is not common for judges to share opinions on verdicts, but that this one was "reasonable."
He called it an "emotional and stressful trial" as he thanked the jury after the Thursday evening verdict.
Crown prosecutor Brian McGuire said he was satisfied with the verdict.
"We're very sad for the Akl family but they're satisfied justice was done," McGuire said.
During the trial, court heard that the men had pledged allegiance to ISIS and were looking to silence Akl because he planned to go to police about their actions.
Asked about the possibility of further investigations into the men's alleged pledge to ISIS, McGuire refused to comment.
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