YAW o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2007-12-28 published
Common-law spouse faces charges in slayings Headline
By Canadian Press, Fri., December 28, 2007
Toronto -- Police say a 27-year-old man will face four charges
following the deaths of a woman and a boy in a west-end Toronto
apartment.
Police say a 22-year-old woman, identified as Iliada
ZOIS, and
a 14-year-old boy were slain in a high-rise apartment, raising
Toronto's 2007 murder count to 84 -- five short of the city's
1991 record.
Sgt. Gary GRINTON said the suspect, in hospital with stab wounds
to his stomach area, called 911 to report the deaths at about
6 a.m.
Grinton said 27-year-old Nana
YAW will be charged with two counts
of second-degree murder and one count each of attempted murder
and forcible confinement once he is released from hospital.
GRINTON said the murder scene was "one of the more grisly" he
had ever seen.
He added that the suspect was the victim's common-law husband,
but did not indicate if or how either is related to the unidentified
teenage victim.
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YAW o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2007-12-28 published
Troubled relationship ends in tragedy
Domestic dispute on Christmas Day leaves two dead in Rexdale
apartment
By Kenyon WALLACE and Dakshana
BASCARAMURTY,
Page
A12
Iliada ZOIS dreamed of one day seeing her face on more than just
the cover of Wal-Mart Canada's World magazine.
The 22-year-old Toronto resident, who imagined becoming an actor
and model, instead spent her last few weeks working two full-time
retail jobs and confiding in co-workers and Friends about a difficult
five-year relationship with her boyfriend.
Ms. ZOIS and a 14-year-old boy were found dead in the woman's
Rexdale high-rise apartment after a Christmas Day domestic dispute
that turned violent, police said yesterday.
Detective
Sergeant
Gary
GRINTON of the Toronto police homicide
squad said the bodies of the two victims weren't discovered until
Wednesday night, when a 16-year-old man suffering from knife
wounds walked into the 23 Division police station just a few
blocks from the high-rise, and led officers to Apartment 217
at Beacon Hill Towers on 2737 Kipling Ave., just north of Finch
Avenue West.
"This was a domestic situation that went really bad," Det. Sgt.
GRINTON
said. "It was one of the nastier ones I've seen… in the 30 years
I've been on the job."
Yesterday, police arrested 27-year-old Nana
YAW, whom they identified
as Ms. ZOIS's common-law partner, and charged him with two counts
of second-degree murder. He was also charged with one count each
of attempted murder and forcible confinement.
Det. Sgt. GRINTON said Mr.
YAW called police from a phone booth
near Steeles and Kipling Avenues at about 6 a.m. yesterday and
turned himself in. The man underwent surgery for non-life-threatening
knife wounds at a Toronto hospital, but Det. Sgt.
GRINTON would
not say if they were related to the Christmas Day dispute. Police
said the two teens were relatives of Ms.
ZOIS.
It was no secret to Ms.
ZOIS's
Friends, co-workers and a neighbour
that the woman was in a troubled relationship.
"I knew she was having problems with her boyfriend but I had
no idea it was this bad," said a woman who worked with Ms.
ZOIS
at Fairview Mall's La Senza Girl, and asked that her name not
be used.
Darren CEDAR, a man who claims to have had a 10-year online Friendship
with Ms. ZOIS, said the woman told him she was scared of her
boyfriend and had recently been looking to move out of their
shared apartment.
Ingrid WILSON, whose apartment is on the same floor as Ms.
ZOIS's,
said she frequently encountered the couple in the hallway after
they moved in more than a year ago.
"They seemed okay together," she said. "No jealousy."
But recently it seemed trouble was brewing between them, she
said, adding that for two weeks she had heard yelling coming
from the apartment late at night and early in the morning.
"On the weekends I usually heard lots of fighting on that side.
Lots of noise - loud," Ms.
WILSON said.
Shiva TAGHANI, who had worked with Ms.
ZOIS at La Senza Girl
for more than four years, said the woman was "a very hard worker"
who spent 100 hours a week at two jobs. Ms.
ZOIS also worked
at a west-end Wal-Mart.
Ms. ZOIS's profile on the social-networking website Facebook
proudly displays a scan of herself on the cover of Wal-Mart Canada's
in-house magazine, as well as many self-taken glamour shots and
an application where other users can rate her "hotness."
"She always wanted to do more with her life and always wanted
to be famous," said Cheyenne
KIRBY, who attended Wilfrid Laurier
Collegiate Institute with Ms.
ZOIS. She said Ms.
ZOIS, who had
also studied child psychology at Centennial College, had dreamed
of becoming a model or an actress.
Yesterday afternoon, Toronto police officers guarded Ms.
ZOIS's
apartment, which was still a crime scene. With a box of latex
gloves and empty bags for evidence collection, they stationed
themselves in front of the door, which was stripped of paint
and had its peephole taped over.
Det. Sgt. GRINTON said Mr.
YAW's forcible-confinement charge
stems from the fact that the 16-year-old male who led police
to the crime scene was confined in the apartment and at another
undisclosed location. The man was treated for his wounds at a
Toronto hospital yesterday and released.
Mr. YAW is expected to appear in court today.
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