Northern Ont. murder victim was competition to Toronto-area drug dealer, jury told

A murder trial began Thursday in Sudbury for a Toronto-area man charged with murder on Manitoulin Island. Prosecutors say this crime was drug-related.

A man was murdered in April 2022 in M’Chigeeng First Nation because he was competition to a drug dealer from the Toronto area, Crown prosecutors told a jury in Sudbury on Thursday.

Prince Almando Graham is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Brandan Brooks on April 5, 2022.

He was originally charged with six other men, but their cases have been severed from Graham’s, whose trial is underway at the Sudbury courthouse.

Assistant Crown attorney Cecilia Bouzane told the 13 jurors – nine men, four women – that Graham arranged to have the five men drive 500 kilometres from Brampton to M’Chigeeng, in a Toyota RAV4.

Bouzane said Graham was an ambitious man who wanted to become the drug kingpin in the First Nation and make it his exclusive turf.

The area is a lucrative one and he could sell drugs there at a much higher price than in southern Ontario.

The First Nation is dealing with a drug crisis, she said “fuelled by drug dealers from the Toronto area.”

The five-member crew arrived on the Island on April 4, 2022, and met with Robbie Edwards, who was supposed to be Graham’s drug dealer for the area.

Told he’d better have the money

However, Bouzane said Edwards had a drug problem of his own and had consumed much of the product he was supposed to sell.

“Graham told him he’d better have the money and drugs and that he was sending people up there,” Bouzane told the jury.

When the men arrived, Edwards gave them all the drugs and money he had but it wasn’t enough.

They threatened him and forced him at gunpoint to drive around M’Chigeeng with them in the RAV4 and point out the houses of rival drug dealers. Edwards identified two houses and they dropped him off back home.

At that point, Bouzane said the crew in the RAV4 drove to one of the houses Edward had pointed to, this one on Pine Street in the community.

In a “brutal and violent home invasion,” she said the drug dealer crew entered the home through the back door and went right into a bedroom where Brooks was located.

By then, it was about 1 a.m. on April 5.

They prevented the homeowner, Jane Migwans, from leaving as they pistol-whipped and kicked Brooks, Bouzane said.

Then they shot him, leaving him on the bedroom floor.

They threatened Migwans, telling her not to leave the residence, took the only cellphone in the house and left.

Bouzane said they planned to flee Manitoulin Island before news of what happened got out.

Ignored the threats

But Migwans ignored the threats and as soon as they left, she went to a neighbour’s house and called 911.

“That is the story of how Brendon Brooks died,” Bouzane said.

Thanks to Migwans' quick action, Ontario Provincial Police were alerted and caught the RAV4 before it was able to get off the Island.

“The attackers threw two handguns out of the vehicle” that were later recovered, Bouzane said.

“The RAV4 was stopped just in time. All five men were safely arrested.”

Bouzane said phone and text messages will show that Graham was directing “the crew” and instructing them.

She said Brooks was selling drugs out of his bedroom and was a direct competitor to Graham.

“They were sent to … kill Brandan Brooks,” Bouzane said.

“And the person who sent them was Prince (Graham).”

She said evidence she plans to present included a video-recorded statement from Migwans and a transcript of evidence she gave at an earlier hearing.

Unfortunately, Migwans passed away from a drug overdose in September 2024.

Set aside biases

Earlier, Madam Justice Susan Stothart stressed to the jurors the importance of deciding the case based on the evidence, not on personal bias or prejudices they may have.

Graham, who sat in the prisoner’s box, was wearing a light purple checked shirt and a dark tuque and had a long grey beard sprouting from his chin.

“You must decide this case only on the evidence presented to you in this courtroom,” Stothart said in an address that lasted more than 40 minutes.

“You must not use your own ideas of what the law is.”

Questions and statements from lawyers are not evidence, she said, only answers from witnesses and statements of fact agreed to by both sides.

Bouzane also told jurors that Edwards will testify, including about the threats he got from Prince Graham and that he was forced at gunpoint to point out drug houses.

“At the end of the trial, the Crown will ask you to find Prince Graham guilty of first-degree murder,” she said.

The trial continues Friday in Sudbury. Six weeks have been set aside to hear the case.