unimaginative2
Senior Member
Youth cleared in Creba slaying
Oct 25, 2007 04:30 AM
Peter Small
Courts Bureau
One of three youths charged in the Boxing Day shooting of Jane Creba has been cleared of manslaughter in her death.
Yesterday, provincial court Justice Peter Harris discharged the accused, who was 16 when Creba was killed, at a preliminary hearing to decide if there is enough evidence to commit him and another youth to trial. He is the first of 10 accused in the infamous Creba shooting to have been released.
"It feels good," the teen, now 18, said outside the Old City Hall courtroom, where minutes earlier he had learned he was a free man.
"I want to get on with my life."
Standing beside him, his mother said she thanks God he is discharged. She said other people, like her son, were shot in the melee that ended Creba's life, but were not charged in her death.
He was charged "just because he's black," she said.
In the same judgment yesterday, Harris committed the teen's co-accused to trial on a charge of manslaughter. The youth, now 19, shook his head as it became apparent what the judge's decision would be.
Neither can be named, and there was a publication ban on all evidence and arguments at the hearing.
Creba, a popular student and gifted athlete who was in Grade 10 at Riverdale Collegiate Institute, was shot by a stray bullet in a gun battle between rival gangs as she shopped for bargains on Yonge St. on Dec. 26, 2005, police have said.
Six other people were wounded, one seriously.
So far only one other man, 19, who was also a youth at the time of the shooting, has been committed to trial. He faces one charge of second-degree murder and six attempted-murder charges.
Sal Caramanna, lawyer for the youth discharged yesterday, said the young man plans to continue with high school. "He's very thankful to his family and the community and everybody, anybody that supported him," Caramanna said.
A preliminary hearing for seven adults charged in Creba's death continues in Scarborough provincial court.
Oct 25, 2007 04:30 AM
Peter Small
Courts Bureau
One of three youths charged in the Boxing Day shooting of Jane Creba has been cleared of manslaughter in her death.
Yesterday, provincial court Justice Peter Harris discharged the accused, who was 16 when Creba was killed, at a preliminary hearing to decide if there is enough evidence to commit him and another youth to trial. He is the first of 10 accused in the infamous Creba shooting to have been released.
"It feels good," the teen, now 18, said outside the Old City Hall courtroom, where minutes earlier he had learned he was a free man.
"I want to get on with my life."
Standing beside him, his mother said she thanks God he is discharged. She said other people, like her son, were shot in the melee that ended Creba's life, but were not charged in her death.
He was charged "just because he's black," she said.
In the same judgment yesterday, Harris committed the teen's co-accused to trial on a charge of manslaughter. The youth, now 19, shook his head as it became apparent what the judge's decision would be.
Neither can be named, and there was a publication ban on all evidence and arguments at the hearing.
Creba, a popular student and gifted athlete who was in Grade 10 at Riverdale Collegiate Institute, was shot by a stray bullet in a gun battle between rival gangs as she shopped for bargains on Yonge St. on Dec. 26, 2005, police have said.
Six other people were wounded, one seriously.
So far only one other man, 19, who was also a youth at the time of the shooting, has been committed to trial. He faces one charge of second-degree murder and six attempted-murder charges.
Sal Caramanna, lawyer for the youth discharged yesterday, said the young man plans to continue with high school. "He's very thankful to his family and the community and everybody, anybody that supported him," Caramanna said.
A preliminary hearing for seven adults charged in Creba's death continues in Scarborough provincial court.