GUILTY Canada - Nighisti Semret, 55, Rigat Ghirmay, 28, murdered, Toronto, 2012 & 2013

[dotr]

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/201..._toronto_went_to_germany_between_murders.html

bbm.


"Weeks after one woman was stabbed to death in a Cabbagetown alleyway and months before another was brutally dismembered, the man now accused of killing both took a trip to Germany.

Why did Adonay Zekarias — in between allegedly murdering two Eritrea-born Toronto women — leave Canada, then return?

The travel details so far remain a mystery to police, but the information has investigators probing what the 42-year-old did while abroad.

“I have some concerns,” Det. Sgt. Gary Giroux, of the Toronto police homicide squad, told the Star, “about other potential victims in other parts of the world.”


Police have made an international DNA search request through Interpol to see if the accused killer’s genetic profile draws any crime scene matches in Europe and the United States, where he has family. They are awaiting results."

 

[dotr]

http://globalnews.ca/news/872557/police-to-provide-major-announcement-regarding-cabbagetown-murder/

 

[Snoopster]

That's wonderful news!! What a creep! How dare he take out this hardworking, simple woman??

I am waiting patiently for LE to find the terrible culprit for the death of Nigistri Samret!

pardon my post above!

I was heading out of town and quickly saw the one post....but didn't have the opportunity to read the articles.

I am so happy that Nikki's killer has been found. I was thinking of her this week as I was in Toronto staying at a hotel, almost one year after her killing. (On the day of her killing I was also coincidentally in downtown Toronto at a hotel...not too far from the Delta Chelsea, where she worked.)

 

[dotr]

Perhaps looking for an Eritrean connection was barking up the wrong tree...

http://ethiopianewsforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=43872

 

[Snoopster]

Perhaps looking for an Eritrean connection was barking up the wrong tree...

http://ethiopianewsforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=43872

Perhaps, however the accused is also described as Eritrean and...

Toronto Police Detective Gary Giroux said Zekarias was linked to the Semret murder by DNA. A sample that allegedly matches Zekarias was found under Semret&#8217;s fingernails, on an umbrella used by a bystander to stop the attack, and on her bag. <snip>
Semret, Ghirmay and Zekarias are all Eritrean immigrants to Toronto.

http://globalnews.ca/news/872557/police-to-provide-major-announcement-regarding-cabbagetown-murder/

DNA evidence supports the idea that LE wasn't barking up the wrong tree, whether it was an Eritrean tree or an Ethiopean tree. I understand there is considerable tension between the two communities, however, if they have the 'right guy' then I think that political noise is secondary.

 

[dotr]

Perhaps, however the accused is also described as Eritrean and...



http://globalnews.ca/news/872557/police-to-provide-major-announcement-regarding-cabbagetown-murder/

DNA evidence supports the idea that LE wasn't barking up the wrong tree, whether it was an Eritrean tree or an Ethiopean tree. I understand there is considerable tension between the two communities, however, if they have the 'right guy' then I think that political noise is secondary.

The Eritrean tree thing was just my clumsy attempt at discretion..
Hope you enjoyed your time in Toronto!:seeya:

 

[Snoopster]

The Eritrean tree thing was just my clumsy attempt at discretion..
Hope you enjoyed your time in Toronto!:seeya:

dotr,

You're the one person that keeps so many of these threads going! I can't thank you enough!!

Keep up the great work.

:gthanks:

 

[dotr]

dotr,

You're the one person that keeps so many of these threads going! I can't thank you enough!!

Keep up the great work.

:gthanks:

Wow, thanks so much, it's very kind of you to say that! :blushing:

 

[dotr]

http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2...an-she-met-at-refugee-shelter-trial-told.html

" By: Alyshah Hasham Staff Reporter, Published on Thu May 14 2015

As Nighisti Semret walked home in the pouring rain after her night shift as a housekeeper at the Delta Chelsea hotel, she was completely unaware a man was following her into a laneway, Crown prosecutor Meghan Scott told a jury in her opening address.

“Her stalker attacked her, stabbing her seven times,” Scott said. It was around 7 a.m. on Oct. 23, 2012.

Crown alleges this man is Adonay Zekarias, who, like Semret, was a refugee fleeing religious persecution in Eritrea. Scott told the jury the evidence will show Zekarias and Semret met at a refugee shelter in 2010 where they both stayed for months, and remained in contact.

Zekarias entered a plea of not guilty to first-degree murder through an interpreter on Thursday morning."

 

[dotr]

http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/hotel-worker-s-stabbing-was-planned-deliberate-murder-lawyer-1.2373464


"David Hughes went to Nighisti Semret's aid and asked one question, 'did he stab you?' She answered one word, 'yes' and never spoke again," Scott told the jury.

A police officer who responded to 911 calls about the stabbing testified Semret was on the ground in a semi-conscious state when he arrived.

"She was alive, she was groaning," said Const. Mark Milne, who saw blood pooling around Semret. "I found at least three puncture wounds in her jacket."

The full extent of Semret's wounds, however, only became apparent after medics arrived.

Court heard she was stabbed repeatedly in her back, her chest, her thigh and her arm.

Semret died in a hospital less than an hour after she was attacked, Scott said.

Zekarias, Scott alleged, called 911 for medical assistance for his own "severe hand injuries" later on the same day.

"He told the 911 operator he hurt his hands lifting something, and he told the medical personnel he got both of his hands caught in a door when it slammed on him," Scott said. "They had a concern that Adonay Zekarias' explanations did not match the injuries."

 

[Snoopster]

This case still haunts me as I was staying at a hotel in downtown Toronto at the time. I felt perfectly safe, and yet this poor woman was not.

 

[matou]

Great article here about the victim.

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/05/14/not-guilty-plea-in-grisly-cabbagetown-murder

 

[dotr]

http://www.citynews.ca/2015/05/19/man-who-fended-off-attacker-to-testify-at-toronto-murder-trial/



&#8220;It&#8217;s like any butcher knife, a kitchen knife, with a big silver blade,&#8221; Hughes recalled. &#8220;He started jabbing it towards me.&#8221;

At that point, Hughes went into what he called &#8220;defensive mode&#8221; and used his umbrella to take swings at the man wielding the knife, court heard.

&#8220;I&#8217;m staring right at his hand and just keep swinging,&#8221; Hughes said. &#8220;I swung probably about three or four times by the time the knife falls out of his hand and hits the ground.&#8221;

Hughes yelled at the man, telling him to get out of the area, but the man crouched on the ground and scrambled to retrieve his knife, Hughes said.

&#8220;He was making funny throaty sounds,&#8221; Hughes recalled. &#8220;Like a guy in a panic.&#8221;

Hughes kept swinging his umbrella, court heard, but the man managed to grab his knife, court heard.

&#8220;I take one more swing at him and my umbrella opens up. I thought I was a goner then because I can&#8217;t really see nothing,&#8221; Hughes said. &#8220;He&#8217;s turning around and running away.&#8221;

When the man fled, Hughes went over to Semret, who was moaning on the ground, and put his hand on her shoulder."

 

[dotr]

The man is a prince, imo!
:Crown:

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/05/19/unlikely-knight-used-umbrella-to-fend-off-womans-killer

"TORONTO - To some, he may seem a most unlikely knight.

David Hughes’s castle is a downtown roominghouse where he wakes early every morning to go sift the curbside garbage for empty wine bottles and discarded furniture he can turn into cash.

At 59, his hair is long and grey; his once-handsome face is open and honest, but chiselled with the history of a hard life. He’s plain-spoken and apologizes when he swears, which he often does. His hands shake, not from nerves, he tells the court, but from “other issues.”

But on that miserable, dark October morning in 2012, he was as brave, as gallant, as any fairy-tale prince. He heard the cry of a woman in distress and he raced to her aid."

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/05/26/accused-killers-hand-injuries-raised-eyebrow

When paramedic Nicole Beaulieu arrived at 9:14 a.m., she told his trial that Zekarias was already waiting outside his apartment building, anxious to get to the hospital. Her examination revealed a two-inch cut that ran down his left forearm and lacerations that crossed his fingers on the palm side of his right hand.

When she asked him what happened, she said Zekarias blamed it on his hands getting &#8220;stuck in the door he was closing.&#8221;

She didn&#8217;t notice any language problems, she said, but she did note his reticence to answer her questions.

 

[newone]

thanks for the link Okie Granny -- I hadn't realized that he fled to Germany (from your link) - cannot copy and paste today sorry

 

[dotr]

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/05/26/accused-killers-hand-injuries-raised-eyebrow

Reminds me of L. Mag.

"Sgt. Ravi Manoharan testified that his forensic examination revealed that someone using Zekarias’s computer had saved the Toronto Police press conferences where surveillance videos had been released of a man following Semret just moments before she was attacked. The footage had been replayed over and over again until it was finally deleted a few months later.

Also recovered from the laptop’s hard drive were several deleted TV news stories about her slaying as well as appeals from Toronto Crime Stoppers.

The hunt for a killer, they called it".

 

[dotr]

http://www.680news.com/2015/06/09/a...of-1st-degree-murder-in-cabbagetown-stabbing/

"Adonay Zekarias guilty of 1st-degree murder in Cabbagetown stabbing"

more to come..

 

[dotr]

rbbm.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...-of-1-murder-faces-trial-in-another-1.3106452
"The jury came back from deliberations within four hours with a guilty verdict. Sentencing will commence on Friday.

Zekarias and Semret are both Eritrean refugees, and Semret had once been helping Zekarias with his English.

Some information, however, was not allowed to reach jury members before making their decision on Tuesday.

Zekarias, 43, has been charged in another murder. Details about the other charge came out in an investigation led by police homicide Det. Gary Giroux.

He questioned Zekarias on September 30, 2013, about 11 months after Semret's death.

&#8203;Zekarias to stand trial in second murder soon

What the jury in this trial didn't hear is police linked that DNA to another murder, that of 28-year-old Rigat Ghirmay."


Rigat Ghirmay
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/201...inflicted_on_her_body_afterwards_dimanno.html

" By: Rosie DiManno Columnist, Published on Tue Jun 04 2013

No one knows how Rigat Essag Ghirmay died, but a dreadful indignity was inflicted on her body afterwards.
Rigat Essag Ghirmay was last seen alive on May 15, leaving her Shuter St. apartment building. What happened to her after that is a mystery."

Warning: Some content is graphic and may be disturbing to readers."

 

[KEVINinTO]

When I look at the facts of this case I can`t help but think Toronto homicide messed-up in their initial investigation. It would take the murder of a second woman (Zekarias girlfriend who was friends with Semret) before detectives put two and two together.

Sgt Det Giroux was wrong on so many aspects of this case. He said the suspect was white and walked with a limp. Zekarias is brown skinned and doesn`t walk with a limp. From the Star article it was stated that Zekarias girlfriend (who he subsequently murdered) called 911 the night of the murder to seek medical help for Zekarias hand which was badly cut in the attack on Semret. Toronto homicide detectives knew that he was injured but they didn`t bother to canvas EMS or Hospitals to find out if anyone was treated that night for hand injuries (this is basic detective work!). I think Toronto Police must have one of the most incompetent homicide divisions of any major city.