Det. Rob DiIanni of the Hamilton police homicide unit reviewed surveillance video on the witness stand Friday, starting at Toronto’s Union Station, where Lucy Li and Oliver Karafa walked through the doors around 9:48 a.m.Â
Det. Rob DiIanni of the Hamilton police homicide unit reviewed surveillance video on the witness stand Friday, starting at Toronto’s Union Station, where Lucy Li and Oliver Karafa walked through the doors around 9:48 a.m.Â
It was around 6:50 a.m. on March 1, 2021, when Mark Sethi texted his wife, Sandy, that someone was requesting a taxi at the Glen Orchard General Store to the bus station in Barrie.
The couple own a taxi company in Gravenhurst and Sandy set out for the Port Carling store about half an hour away.
When she got there, the couple, whose names she never learned, appeared in no rush and shopped around for about 10 to 15 minutes before exiting the store and retrieving a bag from an SUV in the parking lot.
Murder trial hears about abandoned Mercedes and garbage bag of evidence left at Port Carling
Once inside the taxi, the couple, an Asian woman with a small build and a tall Caucasian man, asked to borrow a phone charger and asked if there was a bus that went straight to Montreal. Sandy called the bus station for them and learned they would not make it in time.
They told her they needed to make it to Montreal to catch a flight, so Sandy agreed to drive them to Toronto, dropping them off at Sheppard West subway station. They paid $400 for the trip.
That couple is alleged to be Oliver Karafa and Yun (Lucy) Lu Li the morning after a shooting at an industrial property in Stoney Creek that killed Tyler Pratt and seriously hurt Jordyn Romano.
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Karafa and Li are charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder; they have pleaded not guilty.
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In court Friday, assistant Crown attorney Mark Dean told the jury that Sandy Sethi was supposed to be a witness in the trial but refused to come to court. To save time, all the lawyers came to an agreed statement of facts based on her earlier statement to police.
Oliver Karafa and Lucy Li are charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder in Feb. 28,
The trial has already heard from witnesses at the general store in Port Carling, where Li’s grey Mercedes was found abandoned and a bag of evidence — including a blond wig, 40 nine-millimetre bullets and discarded clothing — was discovered in the recycling. An OPP officer who documented the items testified Friday that some of the clothing appeared to have blood on it, as did a phone charger. The key fob to an Audi was also found in the bag.
Court has already heard extensive evidence that Karafa purchased his friend’s mom’s Audi Q5 hours before the shooting and the Crown alleges it was driven to the shooting scene.
Once in Toronto, it’s alleged Karafa and Li travelled to Union Station, where they boarded a train to Montreal and eventually a flight to Europe.
Det. Rob DiIanni of the Hamilton police homicide unit reviewed the surveillance video starting at Toronto’s Union Station, where Li and Karafa walked through the doors around 9:48 a.m.
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Det. Rob DiIanni of the Hamilton police homicide unit reviewed surveillance video on the witness stand Friday, starting at Toronto’s Union Station, where Lucy Li and Oliver Karafa walked through the doors around 9:48 a.m.Â
Jumping between multiple cameras DiIanni followed the couple as they travelled up to the great hall and bought tickets. About an hour and 20 minutes later they took the escalator up to tracks 16/17.
By around 4:30 p.m., cameras show the couple’s arrival at Dorval Train Station, DiIanni said. They are then captured boarding a shuttle bus to Montreal International Airport, entering at 4:40 p.m.
Inside the airport they are captured on surveillance at a ticket kiosk. Initially there is an issue at security and they go back to the kiosk, before and security lets them through.
Inside the Montreal airport, Oliver Karafa and Lucy Li were captured on surveillance at a ticket kiosk.
Karafa carried a bag, but Li carried nothing, he said.
DiIanni agreed there could be parts of the airport not fully captured by cameras.
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Throughout the trial, the jury was shown bits and pieces of the vast amount of surveillance footage seized by police in the case. On Friday afternoon, the Crown played the entire nearly hour-and-a-half timeline for the jury.
The trial continues Monday.
Nicole O’Reilly is a crime and justice reporter at The Spectator. noreilly@thespec.com
Nicole O’Reilly is a reporter with The Hamilton Spectator specializing in covering police, crime and the justice system. Reach her at noreilly@thespec.com.
