Three of the men charged in a series of violent home invasions last year were convicted Wednesday, while the fourth left the courtroom acquitted of all counts.
Gary Hennessey isn’t yet a free man, however, since he has other unrelated charges before the court.
Hennessey, 33, Mitchell Nippard, 26, Abdifatah Mohamed, 28, and Tyler Donahue, 24, were arrested in February 2017 in connection with four home invasions in St. John’s, Mount Pearl and Paradise that saw people tied up and held at gunpoint, assaulted, their homes robbed and their pets shot by masked intruders.
“We have (heard) harrowing descriptions from the victims involved, and corroboration from the police investigation,” provincial court judge Mike Madden said, calling the victims’ testimonies “very frightening and disturbing.”
“There’s an abundance of evidence to prove the home invasions occurred,” the judge continued. “The issue is, and always was, who was involved.”
The evidence against Hennessey, Nippard, Mohamed and Donahue was entirely circumstantial, since none of the victims were able to identify the perpetrators, other than to say they were male and to give general descriptions of their size and clothing.
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The invasions happened on Fourth Street in Mount Pearl, Mount Royal Avenue in St. John’s, and Milton Road and Angel’s Road in Paradise between Feb. 3 and 9 last year.
After presenting their case two months ago, Crown prosecutors Chris McCarthy and Alanna Dwyer acknowledged they would not pursue convictions on the St. John’s and Mount Pearl cases, due to a lack of evidence.
In the Fourth Street incident, a man testified that when he answered a knock on the door, three masked men came in and took two rings off his fingers, put a gun in his mouth and a pillowcase over his head, and stole his PlayStation, controllers and about $700 in cash.
Two dogs were shot during the incident on Mount Royal Avenue. One of the dogs survived, but was badly injured. Police also discovered four bags of cocaine and bags of marijuana inside backpacks that appeared to have been ditched outside the home.
In the Milton Road incident, a man testified he was in the shed with his father and friends when three masked men burst through the door. He said he was ordered to get on his knees while the others were put face down on the floor, zip-ties on their wrists and black tape over their mouth. He was hit in the head with a .22-calibre pistol and ordered to his feet to lead the intruders inside the house.
Once inside, the men tied up the victim’s girlfriend and his mother with zip-ties and ransacked the home, stealing cash and jewelry. They took the victim to a second location on Cameo Drive, a friend’s house where he said he kept jewelry.
On Angel’s Road, two masked men entered the home of a pregnant woman and robbed her at gunpoint while her 10-month-old daughter slept, pulling her engagement ring off her finger and taking her iPhone, XBox and a lotto ticket worth $1,000.
“That’s when things began to fall apart for the home invaders,” the judge said Wednesday.
When one of the intruders took the woman’s phone, he unknowingly dialed her fiancé’s number. The fiancé’s friend answered and heard what was going on, and called the police.
Hennessey, Donahue, Nippard and Mohamed were arrested hours later.
Donahue and Mohamed were apprehended after police found a Mazda 3 stuck in a snowbank, engine still running, on nearby Dawe’s Road, and members of the K9 unit tracked two scents to a wooded area off the C.B.S. Highway. The men were located separately, both sitting under trees. Mohamed was wearing one boot. The car was later found to contain Mohamed’s DNA and identification card.
“I don’t, for one minute, think these two gentlemen, both friends of Mr. Hennessey and Mr. Nippard, ended up at the same place and same time as coincidence,” Madden said, noting it was late at night and freezing. “Why else would they stop and wait by the highway? Why else would they be together?”
Hennessey and Nippard were apprehended after RNC officers stopped their vehicle on Buckingham Drive, about a block from the Angels’ Road home.
The body of a fifth suspect, Mohamed Salim, was located a month later behind a dump truck in a quarry off the Trans-Canada Highway. He is believed to have frozen to death while hiding from police.
Madden said the men seemed to know each other through Nippard, who is believed to have participated in the planning of the home invasions.
Saying there wasn’t enough evidence to warrant convictions, Madden cleared Hennessey of all charges. Donahue was found guilty in relation to the Angel’s Road incident, as were Nippard and Mohamed. The latter two men were also convicted in connection with the Milton Road home invasion.
Donahue — who kissed his loved ones goodbye before proceedings started, just in case he was taken into custody — was the only one of the men not behind bars, having been released on bail. Madden ordered him detained after he was convicted, despite an argument from his lawyer, Michelle Elliott. He will be back in court for a sentencing hearing June 14.
Mohamed, who represented himself at trial, will be back in court May 8 to set a date for sentencing, while Nippard’s sentencing hearing will happen May 15.
Hennessey is set to be called in court on Thursday morning for his unrelated charges of uttering threats and assaulting a peace officer.
Twitter: @tara_bradbury
