Not guilty pleas were entered and trial dates set this morning for two brothers charged in a targeted killing in St. John’s east end last spring.
Twenty-year-old Ibrahim Hussein and his older brother Hussein Hussein, 24, both stood before Supreme Court Chief Justice Raymond Whalen to formally proclaim their innocence.
The younger of the two, who remains in custody, is accused of the most serious charge on the books, first-degree murder, in the shooting death of 33-year-old Gerald Kyle – also known as “Scrappy” – Hynes.
It happened on Watson Street in early April of last year. The brothers were on the run for several days before they were caught trying to leave the province on a Marine Atlantic ferry at Port aux Basques.
The elder Hussein is accused of helping his brother escape, as well as obstructing police, and a separate charge of diverting suspicion.
Four others are also charged with helping facilitate the getaway, or accessory to murder after the fact — separate charges that continue to make their way through Provincial Court.
Four weeks have been booked for the murder trial which is scheduled to begin with jury selection on January 18th of next year.
