JURY TOLD OF THREAT AGAINST RIVAL GANG MEMBER

A former sex-trade worker maintains she heard a member of the Mad
Cowz street gang say he was going to take action against a member of
the rival gang that operated a crack house in the West End the night
that 17-year-old Phil Haiart was shot and killed.

Samantha Bone, 20, testified Wednesday she had bought some crack
cocaine from a member of the Mad Cowz early in the evening of Oct.
10, 2005, when one of the members said they were going do something
against a member of the rival African Mafia, who had been dealing
crack from a house on McGee Street just north of Sargent Avenue.

Jeffrey Cansanay, 21, has been charged with second-degree murder in
Haiart's death, and he's also charged with wounding Abass Jalloh, 26,
who was with Haiart the night of the shooting. A second trial is set
for June for a co-accused, who was 17 at the time of the killing and
can't be named.

Haiart and Jalloh were shot as they crossed Maryland Street, near
Picasso's restaurant and a block away from the McGee street crack
house operated by the African Mafia street gang.

The Crown told the jury Haiart and Jalloh were innocent bystanders
who had been hit by stray bullets fired by members of the African
Mafia, who were aiming at members of the Mad Cowz, who had attacked
the gang the night before.

Bone said a few hours after she had bought crack cocaine from the Mad
Cowz, she went to the McGee Street crack house and bought two more
rocks of crack from the rival African Mafia. She said she had walked
away from the house when she heard shots but didn't think anything of it.

"I said it's Winnipeg, it's only the West End. It's gun shots," Bone
said. "All I wanted to do was get high."

Bone said she saw a group of people on bicycles flee the area, adding
that one of the bike riders looked like one of the members of the Mad
Cowz she had seen earlier that night.

Earlier at the trial, a man called as a witness refused to testify.
Corey Amyotte, who was wearing bright orange prison garb, refused to
take an oath on the Bible or affirm to tell the truth. Justice Morris
Kaufman cautioned the man to seek the advice of a lawyer, pointing
out that the Crown attorney's office could bring charges against him.