A man told a 海角社区官网jury Wednesday that he was so drunk and high as a teen he doesn鈥檛 remember fatally shooting a 海角社区官网taxi driver 鈥 as the man鈥檚 lawyer pleaded with jurors to find his client guilty of a lesser offence than murder.
While he admits to shooting 73-year-old Beck Taxi driver Christopher Jung seven times when he was a passenger in Jung鈥檚 cab in Scarborough on the evening of Oct. 24, 2021, the accused testified he simply has no recollection of doing it.听
鈥淎ll I remember is getting inside the cab, and like other times just being inside the cab,鈥 said the 20-year-old man, who can鈥檛 be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act because the incident occurred when he was 17.听
鈥淚 just remember, like, driving in the cab.鈥澨
The Crown charged in cross-examination that the man remembers exactly what happened, and suggested that he murdered Jung 鈥渋n cold blood鈥 over a fare dispute.听
鈥淲hatever happened in that cab, whatever he said, you didn鈥檛 like, so you shot him,鈥 Crown attorney Bryan Guertin said.听
The accused had already attempted to plead guilty to manslaughter at the start of his second-degree murder trial last week, but the plea was rejected by the Crown.听
Defence lawyer Monte MacGregor didn鈥檛 mince words in his opening address to the jury on Wednesday. He started off by saying that his client is indeed guilty 鈥 but of manslaughter.
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 a whodunnit,鈥 MacGregor said, occasionally pointing toward his client in the prisoner鈥檚 box. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about what happened at the time of the shooting. What you鈥檙e going to have to assess here is what was the mental state of (the accused) at the time he shot Mr. Jung.鈥澨
Testifying in his own defence, the man walked the jury through his difficult childhood, and how he started to use drugs and alcohol at an early age to escape his loneliness and depression. Born in the United States, the man never knew his biological father. He was abandoned more than once by his mother and lived with a variety of former stepfathers and stepsiblings, none of whom really wanted him.听
鈥淚 just felt like I never had a connection with anybody; like the outcast of the family,鈥 he said under questioning by MacGregor.
He recalled that at 12 years old, he was put on a bus alone by one ex-stepfather for a weeklong trip from Texas to Washington state to yet again live with his mother. She eventually brought him to Toronto, only to abandon him once and for all when he was about 13.
After that, he began to live with friends, with one friend鈥檚 mother ultimately becoming his guardian. The man also started to sell drugs and racked up a number of youth convictions, including for stealing a car, operating a vehicle while impaired and possession of a restricted weapon.听
On the day of Jung鈥檚 killing, the accused testified he had been smoking marijuana since that morning. He began drinking heavily 鈥 mainly tequila 鈥 later that afternoon as he spent time with friends in a makeshift music studio. He told the jury about holding the bottle above his head to chug the liquor 鈥 a 鈥渨aterfall鈥 鈥 and about crushing up MDMA and mixing it with the alcohol.听
鈥淚 just started fading in and out,鈥 he testified. 鈥淟ike if you looked at me, you would see the common signs: my eyes would be big, I鈥檇 be sweating, you鈥檇 probably smell liquor on my breath.鈥澨
At some point, he headed to a 鈥渢rap house鈥 in Parkdale with a friend and the friend鈥檚 girlfriend, but quickly got into an argument with the former. The accused recalled he wanted to leave but that his friend was telling him to stay because he was so drunk and out of it.听
He then made his way to a convenience store and eventually into Jung鈥檚 cab 鈥 though he testified he has no recollection of how he called for the taxi, nor of any conversation he had with the driver.听
Guertin replayed surveillance footage of the man entering the store without stumbling, and audio of his phone call to Beck in which he鈥檚 polite and coherent as he follows up on the status of the taxi.听
鈥淵ou sound just like you do today, and you鈥檙e sober today,鈥 Guertin said. 鈥淵ou had the wherewithal to ask the convenience store clerk for the specific address.鈥
The man repeatedly told Guertin he couldn鈥檛 remember.听
鈥淵ou鈥檙e leaving out what happened in the taxi because you know what you did and you鈥檙e just trying to protect yourself,鈥 Guertin said.
The taxi headed to Scarborough. Surveillance footage shows it momentarily stopped in front of a Metro grocery store at the Eglinton Square shopping centre, before driving through the lights and both lanes of traffic on Pharmacy Avenue and crashing into a fence. A figure can be seen rolling out of the cab before the crash; the accused admitted that it was him.听
He was arrested in British Columbia three months later.听
After having watched himself on the footage, the man told the court he is remorseful and apologized to Jung鈥檚 family.听
鈥淚鈥檓 sorry that I even put this type of stress on their life,鈥 he said.听
鈥淚 wish I could take everything back.鈥
The trial continues Thursday.
