A father finished testifying on Wednesday at the trial of his daughter and four men who are accused of trying to kill him in an incident that the Crown alleges was a staged home invasion.
On Nov. 8, 2010, Hann Pan was awoken by a gunman in the bedroom of his Markham, Ont., home, forced to go downstairs and eventually shot in his basement.
He would survive the events of that night, but his wife died as a result of being shot in the head.
The couple’s daughter, Jennifer Pan, is now one of five people on trial for first-degree murder and attempted murder.
The four other defendants are Daniel Wong, Lenford Crawford, David Mylvaganam and Eric Carty.
All five have pleaded not guilty.
Surviving father a key witness
Hann Pan spent several days testifying at the trial. He is a key witness for the Crown.
During his testimony, Pan said that he never saw his daughter tied up that night, even though she told police she was.
He also testified that his daughter and one of the three gunmen spoke softly to each other, like they were friends. He said he saw them as he was led downstairs.
Pan has also said that his daughter told her parents intricate lies over years to hide her relationship with her boyfriend, Wong — one of the five defendants in the case.
Jennifer Pan’s parents disapproved of the relationship. The Crown claims she arranged, through her boyfriend, to have her parents killed.
Trouble identifying assailants
About two months after the alleged home invasion, police asked Hann Pan to go through a photo lineup.
He could not definitively identify Mylvaganam. In another photo lineup, about a month later, Pan did not pick out Carty.
Hann Pan has told the court that he wasn’t wearing his glasses the night he was shot. He also admitted that he could not see the intruders well even though they weren’t masked.
In court, Jennifer Pan’s lawyer pointed to a discrepancy between Hann Pan’s description of what his daughter was wearing that night and what a photo showed instead.
Hann Pan said his daughter was wearing pajamas. The photo shown in court — and taken hours after the alleged home invasion — was an image of Jennifer Pan wearing a sweatshirt and dark yoga pants.
On Thursday, the first officer who came to the Pan house will take the stand as the trial continues.