'Too many gaps': Defence pokes holes in Crown's theory at Kane Carter murder trial

A defence lawyer for the man accused of shooting and killing an innocent teenager and a rival gang member in January of 2018 says the Crown failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that his client was the second gunman who fired the fatal shots.

“There’s simply too many gaps in the evidence, gaps in time, gaps in people’s memories,” said Richard Fowler.

His client, 28-year-old Kane Carter, is charged with the second-degree murders of 15-year-old Alfred Wong – an innocent passerby – and 23-year-old Kevin Whiteside, an alleged gang member.

The Crown’s theory is that on the evening of Jan. 13, 2018, Carter was the lone occupant of a burgundy Pontiac Montana van parked south of the intersection of Broadway and Ontario Street. He was there with the intent to protect his associate Matthew Navas-Rivas, who was at Indochine restaurant.

Prosecutors say Carter was working in a "middle management" role for a drug operation Navas-Rivas was running.

The Crown says as Navas-Rivas and his girlfriend left the restaurant, Whiteside opened fire at around 9:16 p.m. shooting several rounds at them. Prosecutors believe that’s when Carter, from the van, fired at Whiteside, killing both him and Wong, who was riding in the back seat of his parents' car as they drove along Broadway.

Fowler brought up how there was no evidence that Navas-Rivas knew there was a target on his back, and that phone records showed that there were no texts or calls made between him and Carter in the hours leading up to the shootings.

“If this motive for Mr. Carter to be there is to protect Mr. Navas-Rivas, Mr. Navas-Rivas must have known for some need to be protected,” said Fowler. “There’s no evidence of that at all."

A former customer turned worker for the drug-dealing operation, Jackson Riley, testified during the trial that a van of the same make and model was used for drug deliveries.

The defence has acknowledged that the drug-dealing van and the van seen at the crime scene are, indeed, the same vehicle.

Riley testified that on the night of shootings, he was out driving the van when Carter called him at around 7:45 p.m., urgently telling him to bring the vehicle back to the Seymour Street condo building where the drug operation was based.

Riley said Carter departed in the van some time just after 8 p.m.

Video then shows the van parking on Ontario Street at around 8:30 p.m.

Fowler says there would have been plenty of time for Carter to drop the van off to someone else.

“There are multiple gaps in time,” he said.

Fowler also mentioned that the three bullet casings later found in the van were linked to a shooting in September of 2017 in Vancouver, while Carter was living in Ontario at that time.

“There’s actually no evidence before you that Mr. Carter had access to the type of gun likely used in these killings,” he said.

Supreme Court Justice Catherine Wedge is expected to charge the jury on Friday morning, before deliberations will begin.