The circus
continues its course in the courtrooms of the impunity, with a “Roll of honor”
of 13 jurors carefully chosen by a corrupt judicial system, a squad of witnesses
highly selected as of habitual for theses criminal cases. As also could not be absent the mainstream media manipulating the public opinion, but
the family of the young Sammy Yatim is grieving inside of the courtroom the
loss of their loved one and desperately claiming justice for his son.
From the Toronto Star: Sammy Yatim murder trial hears witness tell of terror, chaos on streetcar
TORONTO STAR: The business of the journalists
is to destroy the truth; to lie outright; to pervert; to vilify; to fawn at the
feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. You
know it and I know it, and what folly is this toasting an independent press? We
are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping
jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities, and
our lives are all the property of other men. “We are intellectual prostitutes.”
Toronto police Const. James Forcillo, on trial for second degree murder, has pleaded not guilty to killing Sammy Yatim, whom he shot dead in a hail of gunfire.
Warning: Graphic content. A video providing a
glimpse inside the fated streetcar the night Sammy Yatim was killed.
This view shows the back half of the streetcar.
The final witness in the murder trial of
Toronto police Const. James Forcillo was forced to interrupt her
testimony as she sobbed uncontrollably while the court heard audio of
her 911 call on the night Sammy Yatim died.
Bridgette McGregor, 27, spoke through tears
with a quavering voice as she described the terror and chaos on the
Dundas St. streetcar in July 2013.
She had gone to a Justin Bieber concert that
night with her niece and two sisters, and the group was sitting at the
back of the streetcar next to Yatim when he pulled out a knife and
exposed his penis, McGregor said.
“I need you to know that Yatim was dangerous,” she told the jury after she broke down crying on the stand.
Forcillo is on trial for second degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty.
The court has heard that the 18-year-old pulled a knife on a crowded streetcar, causing the passengers to flee.
Markus Grupp / YouTube
Still from video posted by YouTube user showing Toronto Police
shooting of Sammy Yatim, 18, on TTC streetcar at Dundas and Bellwoods
early on Sat., July 27, 2013.
He was then shot and killed by Forcillo as he stood alone at the front of the empty streetcar.
On Tuesday, McGregor and her older sister Christy were the last witnesses called by defence lawyer Peter Brauti.
Speaking through tears, the sisters described
how they attended a concert at the Air Canada Centre, walked by the CN
Tower taking pictures, then took the Spadina streetcar north to board
the westbound streetcar on Dundas St. W.
The three women and 12-year-old girl sat at
the back of the streetcar, next to Yatim, who stuck out his leg as they
sat talking about the concert and boy bands from their youth.
“I was uncomfortable because he was shifty at
first,” said Christy McGregor. “Now I’m getting on guard. I’m thinking,
‘This is weird.’ ”
She said that she then noticed her daughter’s eyes get wide.
“The next thing I see is a flash of silver and I realize, ‘Oh my God it’s a knife,’ ” she told the court.
Yatim then reached out with the knife and held it near her sister Bridgette’s neck, Christy McGregor said.
“I was sure he got her, it came so close,” she said. “Screaming starts. All hell breaks loose at this point.”
Bridgette McGregor said she doesn’t recall the knife near her neck, but that she agrees that it happened, because she has seen video of the incident from inside the streetcar.
“I didn’t notice the knife at first. I only
noticed he had his penis out,” she said while crying on the stand. “He
was pulling on it. Masturbating . . . .The next thing, I remember is
he’s standing in front of me.”
She said Yatim told her she’s “not going
anywhere,” and that she held up her purse with her hand behind it to
block the knife as Yatim pressed it toward her.
She managed to “scurry” around him and run toward the front of the streetcar, she said.
“I yell, ‘Open the doors, why won’t you open the doors? He has a knife!’ ”
When the doors opened, the group ran west for
about a block because they feared Yatim could be chasing them, she said.
They stopped when someone suggested calling 911.
Audio of the call was played in court, but cut
short as Bridgette McGregor began to shudder and weep at the sound of
her screaming voice in the recording.
Moments later under cross-examination from
Crown lawyer Ian Bulmer, McGregor said the recording captured the moment
that shots rang out on Dundas St., and that, at the time, she feared
that Yatim was firing a gun.
“You’re glad he was shot by police that night,” Bulmer suggested.
Bridgette McGregor responded: “No.”
Bridgette and Christy McGregor said they
didn’t tell their story to police or have any interactions with law
enforcement until after Yatim was shot.
The trial resumes Jan. 5 when the Crown and defence begin their closing arguments.
