Investigators work at the scene of a multiple shooting at the Moka Cafe in Vaughan, Ont. on Wednesday, June 24, 2015.Darren Calabrese/The Globe and Mail
The suspect arrested in a Woodbridge cafe shooting that killed two and injured two others appeared in a Newmarket courtroom Saturday morning. His bail hearing is expected to be held Aug. 24.
Jason Hay, 27, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. Mr. Hay made his first court appearance by video from a cell inside the courthouse after he was arrested Friday in what police called an "emergency takedown" on a highway near Barrie.
Mr. Hay's car collided with vehicles of the York Regional Police, who unleashed their emergency unit with the assumption that the suspect was "armed and dangerous," Constable Andy Pattenden told the Globe Friday. Police had announced a Canada-wide arrest warrant for Mr. Hay last week.
Tashari Bennett, 25, also appeared on video. She was with Mr. Hay when he was arrested and is charged as an accessory after the fact and with breaching a recognizance to remain at a residence in Mississauga, where they're both from. Both suspects were remanded into custody until next Monday.
Maria Voci, 47, and Christopher Desimone, 24, died in the June 24 shooting at the Moka Café in the Woodbridge area of Vaughan at Highway 7 and Islington Avenue. It all happened before 9 a.m.
Mr. Hay and Ms. Bennett were also ordered not to contact the two men injured in the gunfire, one of which is former Toronto mayoral candidate Rocco Di Paolo.
Later, in July, police claimed an illegal gambling operation was being run out of the back of the café, where they found gaming tables and machines. Police have not said whether the shooting was related.
A publication ban on evidence was requested by duty counsel, but only the charges were read.
Before accepting the publication ban, the judge asked for the reasoning behind the request because the case is "very high profile." The counsel replied that he expected it would lead to a judge-and-jury trial and that published evidence could affect public opinion.
Nine of Mr. Desimone's family members, all dressed in black, sat in the row of benches facing the prisoner's box. They gasped when the police officer in court announced the suspects would not appear in person – a practice duty counsel Christel Francis said was common on weekends, even if the two were driven from Lindsay, where they are being held in custody.
"It's just easier for the [small] number of officers. It's got nothing to do with them," she told reporters outside the courthouse after the appearance. "It makes it easier for everybody, including for the accused because they have to go down like three flights of stairs and that's not easy, so."
On the screen, Mr. Hay appeared solemn. He wore a fitted blue t-shirt and responded to questions with slight nods.
His father and sister, also wearing black, sat on the opposite end of the room from the victims' families. Outside the courtroom, they maintained that the screenshots of the cafe's surveillance footage were not Mr. Hay.
"They used the wrong screenshots – it's not him. And this is the perfect case of where your past comes back and haunts you. He's already paid his debts to society," his sister said.
Mr. Hay was convicted of manslaughter in 2009 for his role in the murder of a 23-year-old man in Brampton. He was sentenced to seven years in prison, and had been out for three months when he allegedly shot Ms. Voci and Mr. Desimone.
Three other fatal shootings occurred in the kilometres surrounding the café last year: two were also outside café, the other outside a HomeSense store.
With files from Oliver Sachgau and Sahar Fatima