MONTREAL -- Eight years after a 25-year-old businessman was stabbed to death in an apparent case of mistaken identity, two suspects are now facing the justice system.
Evens Belleville, now 29, and John Tshiamala, now 28, are on trial for manslaughter, for their alleged part in a killer mob scene.
The first police witness to testify on Tuesday brought forth the evidence against the two men, including blood found on their clothes.
Raymond Ellis was stabbed to death on Oct. 23, 2005 soon after he walked into the Aria nightclub on St. Denis St., known as a hangout for street gang members.
Several members of a very large group and dressed in white t-shirts and wearing blue bandanas spotted Ellis, and mistook him for a rival gang member who had killed one of their friends.
Ellis, a recent Dawson College graduate who had just opened his own business was warning he was in “blue territory” and told to leave. Within seconds the gang attacked Ellis. The prosecution claims as many as 25 to 30 people punched and kicked the young man.
He was stabbed 11 times in the back, dying of his injuries.
The police witness described how authorities searched the club that night and found blood-soaked clothing and weapons scattered around the club.
Many suspects were arrested at the time of the murder, but the jury has been instructed to focus only on the two men brought in front of them.
The men are charged with manslaughter, meaning the prosecutor will not try to show there was any intent to kill Ellis.
