Jury to be sequestered Monday
Jun 26, 2009 - 03:45 PM
By Jeff Mitchell
WHITBY -- Jurors are set to retire Monday to deliberate in the case of a man accused of the murder of a trucker whose body was found in Pickering three years ago this month.
The 12-member panel will weigh the case against Paul Cyr, a Montreal trucker who the Crown contends was at the same truck stop as victim Donald Woods on the night he went missing -- June 21, 2006 -- and who failed to make a planned delivery the following day in Quebec, turning up instead in the GTA in need of a ride.
The body of Mr. Woods, 35, was found in the sleeper cab of his truck in Pickering June 23, 2006, two days after he last spoke with his wife. His cargo, a load of air-chilled chicken, had been stolen.
In his final address to the jury June 26, prosecutor Jinwon Kim said there can be no doubt that the person who stole the chicken is also the person who murdered Mr. Woods. The Crown contends it was Mr. Cyr, 52, who committed both crimes.
"Who murdered Donald Woods? It was the person who stole the chicken," Mr. Kim said.
"(Mr. Cyr) stole the load of ... chicken and he killed Donald Woods."â?¨ The defence, led by lawyer Michael Lacy, has targeted the circumstantial nature of the Crown's case against Mr. Cyr, highlighting for the jury a lack of direct evidence linking the accused man to the killing. Jurors have heard that no DNA evidence implicating Mr. Cyr was found in Mr. Woods's truck, where the shooting occurred. And Mr. Lacy has attacked the credibility of some Crown witnesses, including Mr. Cyr's brother Jacques, the owner of the trucking company Paul Cyr drove for.
During the trial, which began in mid-May, the Crown presented evidence, including cellphone records and video from the 10 Acre truck stop, that Mr. Kim said confirms Mr. Cyr was in the area when Mr. Woods died.
Jurors also heard from a trucker who said he picked up a fellow driver in Toronto the day after Mr. Woods went missing and gave him a lift to the 10 Acre truck stop. The Crown contends the man who hitched a ride was Mr. Cyr.
And Friday Mr. Kim said the nature of the trucker's death -- the Crown contends he was abducted and bound, then shot point-blank in the back of the head with a shotgun -- indicates first-degree murder is the appropriate finding for the jury.
"This isn't spur of the moment," Mr. Kim said. "This is an execution-style killing."
Superior Court Justice Bryan Shaughnessy will deliver his charge to the jury Monday. After that the jury will be sequestered until members arrive at a verdict.
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