Bush party homicide trial: Victim’s dad back on stand as Crown closes case

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The final Crown witness at Carlos Guerra Guerra’s second-degree murder trial was the first witness the jury heard from when the trial began in mid-October.

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Before closing its case on Monday, the Crown recalled Ricardo Silva, the father of Josue Silva, the 18-year-old Western University student shot to death at a southwest London bush party attended by more than 150 young people on July 31, 2021.

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He was recalled specifically to answer questions about an airsoft gun that belonged to his late son. The Superior Court jury has seen brief cellphone videos of Josue Silva’s friends playing around with an airsoft gun, which looks like a real gun but shoots pellets or BBs, that may or may not have been Josue Silva’s at a house party a week before he was killed.

His father, under questions from assistant Crown attorney Jennifer Moser, identified the airsoft pistol that has been made an exhibit at the trial as the weapon he gave to police on March 13, 2022, when a detective came to their home and asked about it.

Ricardo Silva said he found out about the gun sometime in 2021 when he heard noises in his backyard and discovered his son Josue shooting at pop cans.

“I took it from him,” Ricardo Silva said. He put the gun in his safe in his home office – and only he knew the combination to open it.

The airsoft gun was in the safe the night his son was shot to death along a dark pathway into a bush area near Pack Road and Grand Oak Cross and remained there until police asked for it. No one else in their family had an airsoft pistol, he said.

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But what was “hard to say” was how long the gun was in the safe before his son died. In cross-examination, defence lawyer Ricardo Golec referred to a brief police statement Ricardo Silva gave police when he handed over the replica gun where he said it had been locked in the safe one to three months.

Ricardo Silva said he told the police that he thought it was “one to three months . . . but now, when I’m thinking again and I’m thinking maybe one week, or maybe two days.”

Golec pointed out that Ricardo Silva had been listening to the entire trial, either in the courtroom or remotely, and had heard his son’s friends testify they knew his son owned an airsoft gun.

Golec said the father was changing his evidence because he had the benefit of seeing everyone testify. “You’re right,” Ricardo Silva said.

But, he added, when he handed over the gun, he wasn’t sure when he took the gun from his son and thought “maybe” it was one to three months.

He told Golec that in spring 2022, both he and his wife needed medication to help them sleep and ward off nightmares. “Is that the truth? I don’t know, I had a son dead,” he said.

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“That airsoft gun was in my safe, for how long is tough to answer.”

Guerra Guerra, 23, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder of Josue Silva and not guilty to assault with a weapon, namely a blunt object, of Silva’s best friend, Logan Marshall, 22.

Silva died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen. His death came after an escalating series of arguments and beefs between young people, starting with a thrown drink and unwanted cellphone photos.

Over the last eight weeks, the jury has heard from a long list of Crown witnesses and seen 80 exhibits entered into the court record.

The trial started with two people on trial, but one of them, Emily Altmann, 22, was excused from the prosecution last month. Justice Patricia Moore told the jury that it must not speculate as to why she was no longer part of the trial.

The jury also has heard that a third person charged, Dylan Schaap, 23, already has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Last week, Guerra Guerra admitted firing the gun that shot and led to Silva’s death. The jury has heard Guerra Guerra showed up at the party after receiving a call from Altmann to help her settle a score with people who’d insulted her.

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Guerra Guerra and Schaap, who was armed with a machete, showed up at the party in dark clothing and masks. A witness last week described seeing a gun sticking out of Guerra Guerra’s waistband as he stood near the bonfire.

Meanwhile, other witnesses, including Marshall, have testified how they hid in the woods after hearing armed strangers were coming into the bush. Marshall testified he, Silva and another friend were just about out of the woods when they were jumped.

Golec indicated to the jury after the Crown announced it was closing its case, that he would be calling defence evidence.

That evidence is expected to begin Wednesday.

jsims@postmedia.com

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