Convicted killer in Bolsa Restaurant gang slaying to apply for mistrial after confession comes to light

Calgary man convicted in the gang-related triple homicide at Bolsa Restaurant on New Year’s Day 2009 will make a formal application for a mistrial, based on a confession by a key witness just disclosed recently. Andrea Urquhart, acting as agent for Real Christian Honorio on Friday, told Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Bryan Mahoney that co-counsel Tonii Roulston and Greg Dunn have reviewed the new evidence and will make the application to trial Justice Glen Poelman, likely in August. “We were provided with disclosure from the Crown last week and Ms. Roulston and Mr. Dunn will be making the application for mistrial. “We will be making the application in front of Justice Poelman.” Crown prosecutor Rajbir Dhillon said “that is fine with the Crown.” At issue is the statement “M.M.” made last July 12 to a Mountie near Unity, Sask., in which he confessed to all three slayings. M.M., who was given immunity from prosecution for his testimony as long as he was not one of the shooters, told the RCMP officer he went into the restaurant on Jan. 1, 2009, and fatally shot FK gang member Sanjeev Mann, 23, FK associate Aaron Bendle, 21, and bystander Keni S’ua, 43. However, he testified at two trials, including Honorio’s trial, that he kidnapped Bendle to get to Mann but did not enter the Vietnamese eatery. He claimed he was the driver of a getaway car. Roulston and Dunn were given copies of the transcript of the M.M. statement on May 28, three days after it was received by Dhillon and co-Crown Susan Karpa, then last week received the audio-videotaped statement and reviewed it. The lawyers who represent Real Christian Honorio, 28, on Friday were granted a delay by Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Glen Poelman after they presented a partial transcript of M.M.’s audio-videotaped admissions. Dhillon told Poelman on what was to be the ay of sentencing for Honorio that he and Karpa were unaware of the existence of the statement until a Crown prosecutor in Saskatchewan found it while reviewing the file into M.M.’s arrest last summer. He said they were advised and immediately sought disclosure. M.M. told RCMP Const. Eric MacDonald during the interview following the traffic stop, “I was the one that committed it. I run into Bolsa with a f---in’ nine millimetre, a .357, as well as a .45,” M.M. told the Mountie. “I shot (bystander) Keni S’ua, I shot . . . Sanjeev Mann, as well as I shot Aaron Bendle. I murdered them. Nathan Zuccherato did not. Michael Roberto did not. Nicholas Hovanesian did not. Nor did Charleman. I did. I killed them. I murdered them in cold blood.” Shell casings from all three calibres of weapons M.M. mentioned were found at the scene, according to evidence at trial. When MacDonald seemingly ignored M.M. during his arrest and asked him if he wanted to call a lawyer, M.M. challenged the officer and said: “No, I don’t care . . . nope. I want you to live with it. I want you to be the one that says I was the one that let three murderers go.” When the officer again ignored his comments, M.M. repeatedly reiterated that he killed them, including fatally shooting Mann in front of his girlfriend . . . by “myself.” M.M., who admitted at Honorio’s trial that he did enough to be convicted of three counts of first-degree murder because he was involved in kidnapping Bendle the night before the slayings and was a getaway driver outside the restaurant, had denied he was ever inside. Honorio was convicted March 29 by a jury of first-degree murder in the deaths of Bendle and Mann and second-degree murder in the death of S’ua, 43. He faces automatic life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. Honorio, a member of the 403 Soldiers gang, was the third gang member convicted by a jury regarding the bloody incident at the restaurant in Macleod Mall at Macleod Trail and 94th Avenue S.E. It shocked the entire city as it came during a bitter gang war that claimed at least 25 lives over five years. Zuccherato, 25, and Roberto, 28, both members of the FOB street gang, bitter rival of the FKs, were found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder last October and sentenced to life with no chance of parole for 25 years. The lawyers said new evidence could affect appeals filed by Zuccherato and Roberto and a potential appeal by Honorio, if he is not granted a mistrial. A fourth man, Nicholas Hovanesian, recently pleaded guilty to kidnapping Bendle and being an accessory after the fact to murder. He has yet to be sentenced.