The Crown prosecutor gave his closing statements in a Hamilton court Wednesday, suggesting that accused killers Lucy Li and Oliver Karafa are both guilty of pre-meditated murder.
The seven-week trial for married couple Lucy Li and Oliver Karafa is coming to an end.
They are both charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder. On Wednesday, the Crown gave his closing statements, and the judge began to instruct the jury on how to make their final decision.
Crown attorney Mark Dean suggested accused Lucy Li lied to the jury, “so many times, it should make your head spin.”
Li’s husband, Oliver Karafa, has admitted to killing 39-year-old Tyler Pratt, and shooting his pregnant girlfriend, Jordyn Romano at a Stoney Creek warehouse in February 2021.
But his lawyer says it was not pre-meditated, and has asked the jury to find Karafa guilty of second-degree murder, not first.
Li’s lawyer is asking the jury to find her not guilty, suggesting she knew nothing at all about a plan to kill the couple, but the crown rejected that entirely.
The crown instead suggested Li told an elaborate set of lies “designed to create space between Lucy and a motive to kill.”
Li testified she knew nothing about Karafa’s business dealings with Pratt and Romano — the couple had sunk nearly $500,000 into a business in Europe. Pratt demanded his money back — but the court learned the business was failing.
The Crown suggests Karafa shot the pair because he couldn’t pay them back, and so he and Li could rob them of cash and their Range Rover.
The court heard how Karafa made arrangements to sell Romano’s Range Rover days before the meeting, and Romano knew nothing about it.
The Crown suggested that while Li never picked up the gun, she helped Karafa with all of the preparations the day of the shooting.
She leant Karafa $4,000 against a line of credit to purchase an Audi that was driven to the scene.
The Crown points to testimony from a friend of the couple, who said Li was present as he swapped sim cards with her, so electronic records would show Li was at home when the murder took place.
Li was captured on surveillance footage wearing a blonde wig in the elevator of her building. She said she put it on after she thought Karafa was cheating on her. But the Crown asked the jury to reject that testimony, saying it was clearly a disguise.
The Crown said Li and Karafa planned almost every element of the killing — but they hadn’t expected Romano to survive being shot in the heart.
The Crown told the court “it’s because of her (Romano’s) strength and her courage that you can see the real Lucy and Oliver, past all the lies.”
The judge spent the rest of the day reviewing the evidence with the jury — and reminding them that their decision can only be based on the evidence presented. He continues his charge Thursday, and then the jury will be sequestered until they reach a verdict.