Testimony claiming accused bomber framed mere speculation, judge says

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/12/2017 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The idea an accused bomber’s ex-wife could have framed him and mailed explosives herself is “pure speculation,” a provincial court judge has ruled.

On Thursday, Judge Tracey Lord dismissed an attempt by Guido Amsel’s defence team to introduce testimony suggesting his ex-wife, Iris Amsel, was responsible for a series of explosives targeting herself and lawyers in Winnipeg.

Guido Amsel, a 51-year-old mechanic and autobody shop owner, has pleaded not guilty to five counts of attempted murder, as well as aggravated assault, mischief and explosives-related charges.

He testified Wednesday he believes DNA evidence against him was planted at a Winnipeg law office explosion, where a bomb had exploded on July 3, 2015. Lawyer Maria Mitousis was severely injured in the blast. The explosion happened after Mitousis received a bubble-wrapped package containing a digital voice recorder and a note that instructed her to “press enter.”

Two other explosive packages mailed to Iris Amsel and the law firm that formerly represented Guido Amsel were detonated by police bomb squad robots that same weekend. Guido Amsel is also charged in a 2013 explosion that damaged the front of the home he once shared with Iris Amsel.

On Thursday, court heard from Guido Amsel’s friend, 71-year-old Georgie Zacharias, about her suspicions of Iris Amsel, including past efforts to break up her ex-husband’s second marriage and Zacharias’s belief money was going missing from the Amsels’ business while Iris Amsel was looking after the accounting.

Zacharias, who became friendly with Iris Amsel after she brought her vehicle in for service at Eurotech Autobody about 17 years ago, said they are no longer friends. Zacharias said she wanted to help the accused, but emphasized he “never once” asked her to testify on his behalf.

Zacharias testified the handwriting on the explosive packages seemed “similar” to Iris Amsel’s, but also said Iris Amsel had the same block-letter-style writing as Guido Amsel.

“She said she would do almost anything to get him back,” Zacharias told court Iris Amsel confided about her ex-husband.

None of it was relevant to the defence’s request for the court to consider a third-party suspect other than Guido Amsel, the judge decided.

“By her own evidence, Mrs. Zacharias’s view that Mrs. Amsel is possibly responsible for the matters before the court is pure speculation. She has no direct knowledge of the incidents themselves or how they came to be, and there is nothing in her evidence that actually connects Mrs. Amsel to any of the incidents,” Lord said.

With the judge’s decision Thursday, the defence closed its case, bringing Amsel’s trial close to the end after stretching on for more than a month.

Crown prosecutors and defence lawyers are set to present final arguments next week, and the judge will have to decide how much weight to give all the evidence she’s heard before she reaches a verdict.

On the witness stand Wednesday, the accused testified he believed Iris Amsel could have set him up and planted the bombs herself. When asked by the Crown during cross-examination whether he believed Iris Amsel was responsible for all four bombs, Guido Amsel said: “Maybe she hired someone, I don’t know.”

During the trial, experts have testified Guido Amsel’s DNA was found at two of the explosion scenes: the one in Mitousis’s office from July 2015, and on a piece of string found in the aftermath of the 2013 explosion outside Iris Amsel’s home.

The accused said the DNA found on the string only proves he once lived at the home, and said he believes other DNA evidence was “fabricated” or “implanted.”

At the time of the explosions, the Amsels were embroiled in a civil-litigation process over the dissolution of their business partnership after their divorce.

As part of their agreement to buy her out of the autobody business, Guido Amsel still owed his ex-wife $40,000 plus the cost of equipment that would be sold at auction. He didn’t pay and Iris Amsel took him to court, with Mitousis as her lawyer.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay