THUNDER BAY - In a video interview with police, David Hui contradicted earlier statements by co-accused Musab Saboon who claimed the two were not in the city the night Lee Chiodo was murdered, with Hui placing the two at the bowling alley where Chiodo was last seen, but he maintained that neither of them had anything to do with his death.
Day three of the trial against Hui and Saboon on charges of first-degree murder and kidnapping for their alleged role in the 2019 death of Chiodo opened with testimony from Det. Const. Jason Rybak of the Thunder Bay Police Service and a video interview he conducted with Hui shortly after his arrest in the Academy Drive area on March 2, 2019.
In the hour-and-a-half long interview played to the court, Hui expressed bewilderment that he was being charged with first-degree murder and laughed nervously throughout while answering questions.
“This is ridiculous and asinine, I’m offended,” Hui said at one point during the interview about being implicated in Chiodo’s death.
During the interview, Hui contradicted statements made by Saboon who told police while he was detained the previous day that both he and Hui were in Kitchener, Ont. on Feb. 23 and 24, 2019. Chiodo was last seen at a bowling alley the night of Feb. 23 and his body was found in the Mission Marsh area on Feb. 24.
Hui admitted that he, someone named Marshall, and Saboon, who he referred to as Tony, went to a bowling alley on Memorial Avenue where Chiodo was believed to be.
Marshall Hardy-Fox was also arrested by police and initially charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping, but he has since pleaded guilty to the latter charge as well as accessory after the fact to murder.
Rybak asked Hui about what happened at the bowling alley, including why he went around behind the building near the parking lot of an adjacent hotel, suggesting that Hui was making sure he was covering the exits so Chiodo could not run.
“Not covering, just looking,” Hui said. “Lee gets messed up all the time. Thought maybe he was lying or lost. He gets lost.”
When told about video surveillance from inside the bowling alley, which appeared to show Chiodo running and then being confronted by someone matching the description of Saboon before following him out, Hui asked to see the video so he could clear everything up.
“Show me the video and I will give you a play-by-play of exactly what happened,” Hui told Rybak.
After being shown the video on a cellphone, Hui said the individual did look like Saboon but he was not sure. He went on to say that Chiodo got into the back seat with Saboon while Marshall drove, but he was not listening to anything being said.
“There wasn’t anything hostile,” he said. “There wasn’t any shouting. Nothing.”
Hui then insisted that they drove around for approximately 15 or 20 minutes and then he was dropped off in the area between High Street and Memorial Avenue but could not give an exact location. He then took issue with Rybak’s question as to whether he was near any location that may have recorded him on camera to confirm he was dropped off.
“If I would have known I would have to make sure I was on video camera everywhere, I should have got dropped off near a video camera,” Hui said while laughing. Later he welcomed the revelation by Rybak that the GPS in the seized car would show where it had been.
Hui went on to explain that after he was dropped off, Chiodo, Saboon, and Marshall were still in the car and he had heard talk about Chiodo wanting to go to a relative’s house.
He also maintained that Chiodo was in trouble with other ‘crews’ in the city and that he reached out to Saboon, who has a history with Chiodo, for help.
“I’m guessing Lee wanted help. He wanted protection,” Hui said. “He was hiding out from people, he was taking cabs from everywhere and he was hiding luggage. That’s what I heard. There are weird circumstances with this but it has nothing to do with me.”
Rybak stressed the seriousness of the situation and why Hui had been arrested and charged, saying he was among three individuals who picked up Chiodo who then ended up murdered that same night, possibly within a 15 to 20-minute timespan.
“When Lee gets in the car with the three of you, Lee doesn’t come back,” Rybak said.
“Okay. That’s not my problem,” Hui replied. “Are you saying I killed him?”
Rybak then asked Hui directly if Chiodo deserved to die.
“I don’t know. It’s not my problem,” Hui said. “I didn’t want to kill him. Tony didn’t want to kill him.”
Hui insisted he always tries to deescalate situations and would never be a part of something so serious, telling Rybak that he wanted to help him with his investigation.
“I’m trying to convey to you, I know you are doing your job, this is a serious thing, and I’m being blamed for it,” Hui said. “I understand where you are coming from, but you are looking at the wrong person. You are asking the wrong questions.”
Rybak, who testified that he has known Hui for more than 30 years, going back to before he was a police officer, told Hui during the interview that he believed he ‘did not pull the trigger,’ but that he could not deny his involvement.
“It happened and now you don’t know how to get out of it,” Rybak said. “You were there when Lee was killed. I believe that. And now you’re stuck. This is your opportunity Dave.”
“My personal belief is you didn’t pull the trigger. That’s my personal belief Dave. That’s not in you.”
During cross-examination by Hui’s attorney, George Joseph, Rybak was asked about Hui’s state during the interview and the night of Feb. 24, 2019.
“In fact, Mr. Hui told you he was labouring under the influence of alcohol and drugs on the night of Feb. 24, 2019, isn’t that correct?” Joseph asked.
“That is correct,” Rybak said.
“People who are labouring under those drugs are sometimes detached from reality,” Joseph added.
“That is a fair assessment, yes,” Rybak said.
Rybak also agreed with Joseph that Hui’s laughter throughout the interview was often inappropriate given the questions he was being asked.
Joseph then asked Rybak if it was true that he had not uncovered any motive for why Hui would have killed Chiodo, to which Rybak replied that he had not, but could not speak for what the investigation as a whole uncovered.
How and where Chiodo was killed was never disclosed to Hui during the interview and Joseph pointed out to Rybak that he never indicated that he knew that information.
“Correct,” Rybak said.
“As far as you know of the police investigation in this offence, was anything Hui told you in that interview demonstrably false?” Joseph asked.
“If you ask me to compare to what I know evidentiary wise, I would say no,” Rybak said.
The Crown will continue its evidence on Thursday before calling Hardy-Fox to testify on Friday.
