An Ajax Negro man charged with second degree murder in the shooting death of a white Kingston man with a long criminal record has been released on bail in what a judge said the evidence so far points to a “racist conspiracy” to rob him, a possible hate crime and a “very strong” self-defense argument.
Vaughan Oscar Roberts, 20, walked free Friday afternoon from the Quinte Detention Center in Napanee to his mother, one of his four bonds, after spending four months behind bars.
Roberts, who has no criminal record, must meet strict conditions, including after-hours house arrest and use of a GPS monitoring device, Superior Court Judge Marc Smith ruled in a bond hearing decision Friday. .
In October, Roberts waived what is normally a routine posting ban at a bond hearing to get what’s known in the case on the record, long before any trial, and his attorney now wonders if there should be one. .
On August 12, at a Kingston apartment where the Crown alleges that several people lived an “antisocial lifestyle and were entrenched in the local drug and crime subculture,” visiting Roberts had an argument with Jason Wagar, a Kingston Man with a long criminal record who is known to be violent.
Wagar was shot four times by Roberts, the Crown alleges. There were no witnesses to the shooting. The Crown alleges that Roberts then threatened a second man who came out of a bathroom and fired two shots at him, but he disappeared. Roberts left on foot and was arrested by police after a 9-1-1 call was made and a description was given.
The court heard that Roberts was carrying a backpack containing more than $ 7,000 in cash and 76 Percocet tablets. Family members stated that it was not unusual for Roberts, who works in construction, to carry large amounts because he did not have a bank account.
A Glock 9mm pistol and ammunition were found in a fanny pack near the apartment. A machete and a baseball bat were also seized. Police believe all three weapons belonged to Wagar, Smith said in his ruling.
Roberts had been charged with a robbery by Wagar and others, and text messages recovered by police indicate the plan was “racially motivated,” Selwyn Pieters, Roberts’ attorney, said in his filings.
Pieters pointed to text messages recovered by police that “show the use of racist comments and slurs in particular ‘n—’ in reference” to Roberts and “other black people in the Kingston area”, as they “prepared” for the Stole .
“Messrs. Jason Wagar was killed during the racially motivated robbery he orchestrated at the ‘n——’,” Pieters said at the hearing.
“In these home invasion-type armed robberies there is always the possibility that someone could die or someone could suffer great bodily harm. It was the armed instigator who died in this case, ”Pieters said.
Judge Smith in his ruling pointed out weaknesses in the Crown case, including a “very strong” self-defense argument.
“The evidence before me shows that Mr. Roberts was the victim of a racist conspiracy and was attacked immediately prior to the incident in question,” Smith said.
Pointing to texts containing “racial slurs” and a plan to rob Roberts while he slept, Smith said he can “accept that this was not a safe environment” for Roberts and that he “may have experienced a traumatic event,” explaining why he left in a hurry.
“Mr. Roberts appeared to be the target of a crime, possibly a hate crime,” Smith said.
In addition to second-degree murder, Roberts faces charges of attempted murder and various firearm offenses.
At the time of his bail hearing, one of the individuals involved had been charged with conspiracy to commit robbery and attempted robbery, and another was wanted on the same charges, all in connection with the August 12 incident.
Based on the evidence thus far, and on Smith’s findings at the bond hearing that the man who died was a perpetrator, along with others, of a hate crime and that the elements of the Crown case are ” weak, “the Crown should consider dropping the charges, Pieters said in a telephone interview after the ruling.
“Prosecuting someone who was the victim of a hate crime based on anti-black racism and who might also have died sends the wrong message to the community,” Pieters said.
Reference-www.thestar.com