Shot in 'contract killing'
D E M I G O D
Mangat murder trial
By TONY BLAIS, COURT BUREAU
Twenty-three-year-old Ranjit Mangat died in a hail of bullets in front of
his family's Mill Woods home in a retaliatory contract killing, a jury heard
yesterday.
"This case is about a contract killing, a contract, a hit, that was
carefully planned out," said Crown prosecutor Marilena Carminati in her
opening address to the jury at the Court of Queen's Bench trial of Usman
Pervez, 24, and Michael Victorius Debrocke, 21.
The pair are accused of first-degree murder in Mangat's March 27, 2001,
execution-style daylight slaying.
Carminati told the jury, made up of eight women and four men, that Pervez
directed other people to kill Mangat, and Debrocke carried out that plan "by
shooting him over and over again on a sunny spring day, because that is what
Usman Pervez paid him to do."
Court heard Mangat had just returned to his family's 4532 27 Ave. driveway
with two female cousins when a man ran out from the backyard and began
blasting Mangat with a Glock 9-mm semi-automatic pistol holding 15 rounds.
"Michael Debrocke is that shooter," said Carminati, adding Mangat was shot
four times through the torso and three times in the head, including once
through the top.
The prosecutor told the jury Debrocke then ran down the street, tossing the
gun into a nearby yard and passing by a group of boys playing street hockey
near a Sikh temple, before jumping into a waiting stolen Toyota Sienna van.
Carminati said the contract killing was initiated by Pervez because his
18-year-old brother Adnan also had been shot to death in front of his
family's nearby Mill Woods home about the same time on Dec. 13, 2000.
That slaying also involved a shooter who emptied a gun at the target and
then fled in a waiting vehicle. Two men, Keith Schell and Edmond So, were
charged with murder.
"You will hear that Usman Pervez believed Keith Schell was hired by a group
of Sikh males that included Ranjit Mangat, and they were responsible for the
death," said Carminati, adding police told Pervez that the hit was actually
intended for him rather than his brother.
The prosecutor said Pervez initially told police he had no plans to
retaliate and wanted them to solve the killing, but added: "But if you don't
do your job, we'll decide what to do."
The jury heard that in March 2001, Pervez was living in Calgary where he
owned a dollar store, and that he hired Debrocke to work for him in the
business.
"You're going to hear that Usman Pervez hired Michael Debrocke to work at
the dollar store and you'll hear he hired Michael Debrocke to kill Ranjit
Mangat," she said.
The jury was told the case will involve evidence from cellphone records,
wiretapped conversations and a sting operation in which undercover police
pretending to be hardened criminals netted a confession from Debrocke.
--
This was your desire. And here I am now, always to be with you
as a worst nightmare. Because I will hold YOU to the contract of
your choice, which you coerced me to sign, but unwilling to keep.
DEMIGOD