Victim recalls deadly shooting at Mississauga family's restaurant

Rohullah Rawi was in the midst of refilling barbecue sauce bottles at a Mississauga restaurant three years ago when a bullet grazed the right side of his head, jurors heard Thursday as the trial of three men charged in connection with the fatal shooting continues.

Rawi, who worked as a delivery driver at Chicken Land on May 29, 2021, testified in Superior Court in Brampton that he was helping the family who owned the business at Glen Erin Drive and the Collegeway with kitchen jobs that night as it was a busy shift.

Then violence erupted, leaving Naim Akl, 25, dead. Akl's mother, father and brother, and Rawi were also shot.

Rawi testified that he turned around when a man shot him and he dropped to the ground, unconscious.

"When I opened my eyes I saw Naim's mother saying, 'What happened to my son?'" he said.

"I was trying to answer but I fell back again."

Rawi told the court the Akl family, who had been running the restaurant for nearly 30 years at the time of the shooting, were his neighbours and friends. He had started working there in 2013 as a delivery driver.

Crown prosecutors allege the shooting was planned by three men — Anand Nath, Suliman Raza and Naqash Abbasi. All three have pleaded not guilty to one count of first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder.

Naim Akl, 25, was killed in a shooting at Chicken Land, on Glen Erin Drive and the Collegeway in Mississauga, on May 29, 2021. (Facebook/Canadian Druze Society)

Nath, from Mississauga, is accused of carrying out the shooting, while Raza, also from Mississauga, was the alleged getaway driver. Abbasi, from Brampton, was the alleged organizer, according to the Crown.

Prosecutors allege the men operated a business called TryALinc, and were buying and selling Amazon products out of a Mississauga warehouse. Crown prosecutor David D'Iorio told the jury in his opening statement that the three accused had allegedly pledged allegiance to ISIS, and had been sending the organization money.

The defence has not yet made its case.

Crown prosecutors haven't said what evidence led them to allege the group sending money to support ISIS. As for why there were no terror charges laid in connection with the allegations, the Ministry of the Attorney General told CBC News it would be inappropriate to comment given the case is before the courts.

Shooter 'paranoid' after seeing warrant, court hears 

A man who said he went to Montreal with the alleged shooter in the days after the shooting also testified in court Thursday.

Noah Rabbani said he was 18 years old at the time, and learned about what happened when he was with Nath at a Montreal Airbnb.

Rabbani told the 14-member jury he met Nath at a Hamilton mosque in 2020, soon after Nath converted to Islam and starting going by the name Adnan.

Court heard Rabbani started working as a marketer with TyALinc months after befriending Nath, and met all the other accused men and the victim at the business.

The shooting at Chicken Land, on Glen Erin Drive and the Collegeway in Mississauga, on May 29, 2021, left Naim Akl, 25, dead. Akl's mother, father and brother, as well as a family friend were also shot. (Vedran Lesic/CBC)

Rabbani said he took the trip to Montreal to meet a man to learn about e-commerce.

When Nath saw the news about a Canada-wide warrant for his arrest, Rabanni said Nath was "cold, sweating and paranoid."

Rabbani testified he went home right after he saw the news and said he never looked up what happened with Naim and his family, court heard.

Rabbani also testified that the accused men spoke of Akl's death in a TryALinc group chat, calling it "devastating news" and inviting colleagues to pitch in money for an Islamic burial.

"First, they said Naim was on vacation. A couple days later, they announced that he passed away," he told the jury.

According to evidence presented in court, Akl went to work with his family after falling out with Abbasi.

Earlier this week, court saw text messages from Raza's phone asking his partner to not donate any money to the GoFundMe for the Akl family.

Rabbani is scheduled to appear in the witness box again Friday.