Crown seeks 25-year murder sentence for Cansanay

A man who shot and killed an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire of a Winnipeg gang war will have to wait two more weeks to learn his fate.

Jeffrey Cansanay, 24, was convicted of second-degree murder on Apr. 22 after a long jury trial that began in early March.

Phil Haiart, the son of a city surgeon, was 17 when he was killed by bullets fired near the intersection of Sargent Avenue and Maryland Street on Oct. 10, 2005.

At a sentencing hearingWednesday, Crown prosecutor Gerry Bowering asked Justice Shawn Greenberg to order a life sentence with no parole for 25 years the maximum penalty.

'A child should not die before his parents or take his last breath without his family by his side.' Alyson Haiart

"This was not a spur of the moment shooting.He was prepared to shoot rivals on sight," Bowering said. "He was ready and acted accordingly."

Considerations of trying to rehabilitate Cansanay are "of little importance" given past convictions for drug trafficking and intimidation after the shooting, Bowering added.

The Crown also is asking that Cansanay be handed consecutive sentences for charges of discharging a firearm with intent to wound. Under the Criminal Code, the offence carries a four-year mandatory minimum sentence.

Defence lawyer Greg Brodskyargued thatanything more than 10 years before parole eligibility would be too harsh.

"It wasn't an intention to kill," Brodsky said. "This was a recklessness." He described Cansanay as a "low-level trafficker" who had never been seen with a gun before.

Greenbergreserved the decision for two weeks.

Brodsky has hinted that an appeal of Cansanay's conviction may happen, but said after Cansanay was convicted that he wanted to wait until after the sentencing.

Innocent bystander

The Crown's case against Cansanay was built on the theory that mounting tensions between the African Mafia and Mad Cowz street gangs led to the shooting.

Mad Cowz members were furious that Cansanay and a teenager, Corey Spence both associates of the African Mafia gang were selling crack cocaine out of a house located squarely in Mad Cowz turf in the city's West End.

When Mad Cowz members Cory Amyotte and Gharib Abdullah went to confront Cansanay and Spence outside a home at 606 McGee Street just metres from where the shooting happened Cansanay and Spence emerged from the home, with Cansanay brandishing a rifle.

Haiart was crossing the street when he was hit once in the stomach by a stray bullet.

He and another person, who was also wounded, managed to lurch about a block east of the shooting scene beforeHaiart collapsed.

Despite efforts to save his life in hospital, he died hours later.

The home had been the centre of extreme violence in the days prior to Haiart's death.

There were as many as two other shootings, a firebombing attempt and other acts of intimidation.

Despite that, police were never called.

Haiart's killing led to widespread outrage in the city, and prompted police to set up a special unit to crack down on street and drug crime in the West End and downtown areas.

What was then called Operation Clean Sweep has since morphed into a full time police detail called the Street Crime Unit.

Jailhouse riot

Court was also told Wednesday that Cansanay was one ofnineinmatesinvolved in adisturbance at the Headingley Correctional Centre this week.

Pieces of furniture were smashed during the incident, which occurred in a single unit housing members of the African Mafia.

No one was hurt, other than an inmate who suffered some cuts to his hand.

The dispute was over access to showers and telephones, which are being repaired in the unit, court heard. Cansanay and two otherinmates allegedly approached guards about the lack of access and "didn't like the response" they got, according to Bowering.

The inmatesstarted flinging newspapers around the unit and were warned by guards tocalm down.The inmates then swore at the guards and called them racist, according to a report read in court.

Brodsky downplayed Cansanay's involvement in the disturbance, saying that he was at all times calm when dealing with corrections guards. He also claimed that Cansanay's being placed in the African Mafia unit did not mean he was affiliated with the gang.

"You go to jail, and they put you where they put you," he said. "It's not a hotel."

Manitoba Justice, however, has long placed members of gangs in separate units in an effort to quell violence between rival groups.

The Headlingleyincident, whichbegan around 8:30 p.m. Monday, was resolved by 2:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The inmates involved were taken into custody then relocated within the institution. The RCMPis investigating to determine whether any charges will be laid.

Quiet grief

Haiart's mother, Alyson, read aloud from a victim impact statement at the start of Wednesday's hearing.

In an often shaky voice, she told Greenberg that since her son's death, she's been grieving in private and finding it difficult to share her pain with others.

"A child should not die before his parents or take his last breath without his family by his side," she said.

Haiart, who works in the same hospital where her son died, said she only found out about the shooting a day after it happened when detectives turned up at her door with a photo of Phil.

"Shock," is what she remembers feeling. "A mistake must have been made."

"One has nothing but memories of the child he was ... the young man he was becoming," she said.

She said the shooting showed "complete disregard for human life."

Not once did she look at Cansanay as he sat in the prisoner's box, now dressed in grey prison garb instead of the natty suit he wore during the trial.

He did not look at the grievingmother. His eyes remained closed and averted as she read her statement.

Deportation looms

Cansanay is facing deportation back to his native Philippines. He came to Canada with his father andsistersin the 90s as a small boy.

The federal government beganproceedings against him based on a prior drug conviction but thehearings in that matter were postponed for the murder trial.

Theyare slated to begin again later this month.

In a hearing earlier this year,Cansanay threatened he would likely continue his criminal ways if removed from the country.

Court heard that he is the father of two young children. His common-law wife currently lives outside of Winnipeg and did not appear for the hearing. Only Cansanay's mother was in courtto support him.

Cansanay's father was deported from Winnipeg in 2007 based on a drug-related conviction.

2nd trial

Wednesday's sentencing hearing is the latest step in what has been a long journey for Manitoba Justice in the case.

Cansanay's first trial for Haiart's murder ended in an acquittal after a judge refused to allow the videotaped statements of Mad Cowz members to be admitted as evidence implicating Cansanay when they refused to testify in court.

Manitoba's Court of Appeal overturned that decision, but the case languished as Cansanay appealed his retrial to the Supreme Court. Canada's highest court refused to hear his appeal and in 2009, Cansanay was rearrested.

In the most recent trial, three Mad Cowz did testify, but only one Gharib Abdullah offered any direct testimony that put a gun in Cansanay's hands.

Abdullah, a parolee who isfacing deportation back to his native Iraq, was convicted of contempt of court and sentenced to three years in prison for his refusal to testify.

Cory Amyotte was handed a four-year prison term for the same offence. When he took the stand in April, he said he wasn't at the shooting scene.

Jurors were then allowed to watch his police statement implicating Cansanay.