WARNING: This story contains distressing details.
Lucy Li was “smack in the middle” of an elaborate plan with her husband Oliver Karafa to shoot and kill their friends outside a Stoney Creek warehouse, the Crown attorney said during closing arguments of their murder trial this week.
Tyler Pratt, 39, was murdered in February 2021 after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds including one in the back of the head. Jordyn Romano, Pratt’s 26-year-old pregnant girlfriend, was also shot but survived. Her unborn child died.
Li and Karafa both face charges for the first-degree murder of Pratt and attempted murder of Romano and have been on trial in front of a 13-person jury for the past seven weeks.
In the Hamilton courtroom Tuesday, Li’s defence lawyer Liam O’Connor argued she wasn’t smart enough to actively plan the murder and was “strung along” by Karafa and should be found not guilty.
Karafa’s lawyer Peter Zudak said his client should be found guilty of second-degree murder instead of first-degree murder, arguing he didn’t plan to shoot Pratt and Romano.
On Wednesday, Crown attorney Mark Dean focused his closing remarks tying Li to the planning of Pratt and Romano’s murders, rather than the “overwhelming” evidence proving Karafa’s involvement, he said.
Li had taken the stand in her own defence earlier in the trial, and Dean highlighted several inconsistencies with her testimony and what she’d said previously in text messages and police interviews. Dean said she told “calculated lies” to distance herself from having a motive for murder.
“At every point, the beginning, middle and end, Lucy is smack in the middle of this plan,” Dean told the jury.
“She’s in on it and she’s lied to you so many times it should make your head spin.”
Crown points to inconsistencies in Li’s story
The jury has heard that Pratt was from British Columbia and made millions of dollars as an international drug dealer. He and Romano became friends with Karafa and Li, who lived in Toronto, in 2020.
Pratt invested half a million dollars in a personal protective protective equipment business opportunity presented by Karafa as the COVID-19 pandemic ramped up.
Leading up to his murder, Pratt was waiting to get his money back and millions of more dollars in supposed profits, Dean said.
But Karafa and Li didn’t have the money and they were stalling — and planning, said Dean.
They arranged to switch Li’s SIM card with a friend who’d stay at their Toronto condo around the time of the shooting, Dean said. They told their friend, who testified during the trial, that they were going to a secret business meeting not even their family could know about and said he should pretend to be Li.
The purpose of this plan was to create a “digital alibi” so if police were to track their phone calls and texts, it would show them far away from the warehouse, Dean said.
Karafa and Li texted about the plan in the days leading up to the murder, which was presented as evidence at trial.
But on the stand Li denied knowing that far in advance she’d be switching her SIM card or why she’d need to do so, said Dean.
“Think of how absolutely crushing this is to her credibility,” he said.
Survivor showed ‘strength and courage’ on stand
Karafa and Li arranged to meet Pratt and Romano at a Stoney Creek warehouse Feb. 28, 2021 for another business opportunity, but it was a trap, said Dean.
Romano, who took the stand during the trial, said she was sitting in her Range Rover with Li to warm up, Dean reminded the jury. Li sat beside her, seeming nervous before getting out of the car and clearing the way for Karafa to shoot Romano in the chest.
He then shot Pratt, who was standing outside, several times, Dean said.
Karafa and Li fled the parking lot in the Range Rover, leaving Pratt’s body and Romano, who was still alive, on the pavement, Dean said. Once they were confident no other people had heard the shootings, they returned only to find Romano was gone.
Surveillance footage shows the Range Rover circling the area, with Li visible in one of the shots, said Dean.
“After a full hour they decided to cut their losses,” Dean said. “What are the chances she crawls all the way from the back to the front of the parking lot, in the dead of winter, and finds life-saving treatment?”
But that’s exactly what Romano did.
When Karafa and Li found out she’d survived, they fled to Europe.
Romano reported what happened to police and they tracked down Karafa and Li before extraditing them from Hungary.
Dean listed Pratt and their unborn child as the victims, and then drew the jury’s attention to Romano, who sat in the front row of the public gallery surrounded by friends and family on Wednesday. He said her testimony was consistent and reliable.
“The last victim is sitting right there,” Dean said. “It’s because of her strength and courage that you members of the jury have the chance to see the real Olivier Karafa and Lucy Li and see past all the lies and corruption and hold them accountable for what they did.”
The judge will finish giving his instructions to the jury Thursday and then they are expected to deliberate on the verdicts.