One of the suspects charged in the beating death of an American man earlier this month made a brief appearance in a Toronto courtroom this morning.
Andrew Christopher O’Brien, 28, who is facing one count of second-degree murder, made the court appearance after he surrendered to police on Monday night.
O’Brien is one of three men charged in connection with the death of 26-year-old Julian Jones, who was killed in the early morning hours of Nov. 5 outside Blnd Tger, a bar located near College and Manning streets.
According to police, Jones was out celebrating at a bachelor party when some type of altercation broke out between Jones’ friends and another group of men outside the bar.
Police said at one point, Jones was separated from his group and was attacked by three men who police say punched and repeatedly kicked him in the head while he was down on the ground.
Jones was later pronounced dead en route to hospital.
Police have described the attack as “unprovoked” and said Jones and his friends were not the aggressors.
Speaking to reporters after O’Brien’s court appearance Tuesday, the accused’s lawyer Christophe Preobrazenski said his client did not commit the crime.
“It was on Friday that the word was out that police were looking for him and he made arrangements with me and he and I went to 14 Division and he turned himself in,” Preobrazenski said.
“He has had… some problems with the law. Of course it is very distressing. He is a hard-working young man. He works in construction. He has a young family. It’s tragic all along. It really is.”
The two other suspects, Kenneth Omorogbe, 25, and Kamari Folkes, 24, were arrested on Nov. 9 and are scheduled to appear in court later today.
The victim’s father, Tobias Jones, told CTV News Toronto on Tuesday that he’s “very happy that all of the hard work that Toronto Police has put in to find these guys has paid off.”
He said the updates provided to him by police during the investigation helped him cope.
“They communicated with me very well during this process. I knew things well before you guys did. I needed it. It helped me feel better.”
A crowdfunding page set up by the victim’s brother had raised close to $12,000 by Tuesday to cover the costs of his funeral.
Tobias said a number of Canadians have posted messages of warmth and sorrow on the page. Some messages express regret at the shame the vicious attack has brought onto the City of Toronto as a whole.
“I want to say thank you to the people of Canada who are writing all of these wonderful notes on my son’s GoFundMe page. I greatly appreciate that, your prayers and kind words help me through this,” Tobias said.
