Sharif Rahman Homicide Case: Court Hears Extradition Arguments & New Details
Three UK men facing charges in Canada, one for manslaughter, appeared in an Edinburgh court on May 22 as preliminary hearings in their extradition case continue.
This article contains details of a violent assault that some readers may find disturbing.
The three men charged in the 2023 death of Owen Sound man Sharif Rahman had a third preliminary hearing in an Edinburgh courtroom on Thursday afternoon.
Robert Evans Jr., 24, is charged with manslaughter in the deadly August 17, 2023, assault outside Rahman’s restaurant, The Curry House.
Three men from the Evans family reportedly refused to pay their $150 bill, and the ensuing confrontation turned violent. Rahman, a well-respected business owner and community advocate, suffered critical injuries and died in a London, Ontario, hospital a week after the assault.
Robert Busby Evans Sr., 48, and Barry Evans, 55, are each charged with accessory after the fact to commit an indictable offence. All three men were arrested in Scotland in mid-2024 following the issuance of international warrants by Canadian authorities.
However, the court learned today that although three men dined at The Curry House that night, only two of the men charged were present. According to affidavits from the Ontario Provincial Police and the Crown, Robert Sr. did not attend the restaurant but is accused of taking steps to help his son evade capture in the aftermath.
A fourth member of the Evans family attended Rahman’s restaurant that night in Owen Sound, but was not charged.
On December 18, 2024, Owen Sound Police Service and the OPP announced charges had been laid in the homicide. The three accused Evans family members were arrested on international warrants in Edinburgh and Dalkeith, Scotland.
Preliminary hearings have been complicated by the defence's arguments of “poor” Canadian prison conditions being a human rights violation, and that the charges do not have an equivalent in Scottish law.
The latter was the topic of much debate on May 22, as the King’s Counsel (KC), the defence representative, argued that the conduct of the two family members accused of accessory after the fact did not meet the closest equivalent Scottish charge of “attempt to pervert the course of justice.”
After a few false starts due to administrative issues earlier in the day, Robert Sr. and Barry Evans were brought into the courtroom just after 2 p.m. local time.
Robert Sr. was clean-shaven in his white t-shirt and wore a close-cropped fade. Barry, shorter in stature as reported in early police descriptions of a third suspect, appeared in a black golf-style collared shirt, his hair shaved close, with a short grey goatee.
In her presentation to the Sheriff (judge), the KC stated that although the charge for the two men was the same, their “conduct was different.”
Robert Busby Evans Accused of Accessory for Helping Son Flee Canada
According to affidavits presented to the court and reviewed by The Owen Sound Current, police do not believe the elder Evans was present at the time of the deadly assault. He was in the area, however.
The men were reportedly in Canada on visitor visas. But the Canadian affidavits reveal that police believe the UK citizen and his family were working illegally while in Canada.
Cell phone records showed a “flurry of activity” between Robert Sr. and the three Evans men who dined at The Curry House in Owen Sound on August 17, 2023.
The next morning, police say, Robert Sr. booked a flight to the UK for his son and made arrangements for his transport to the airport.
He then told a worker at their job site that his son had to return home the following day.
Affidavits also reveal that Busby Evans has several aliases, including Justin Jones and Robert Bugby Evans.
Barry Evans Accused of Driving Getaway Vehicle
Barry Evans allegedly had dinner with his nephew, Robert Jr., and the fourth family member. He is believed to have been present for the assault when his nephew punched Rahman in the face outside The Curry House.
Canadian police report that he drove the vehicle that Robert and the fourth man used to flee Owen Sound’s downtown, presumably as each of them phoned Robert Sr. in turn.
The men are then believed to have picked up Robert Sr. and fled Owen Sound to an unnamed town 65 km away.
Canadian authorities also believe Barry Evans’ behaviour at an Owen Sound hotel contributed to the accessory charge. They allege that he attended the Travelodge, where he had been staying, twice the day after the assault.
Barry had booked two rooms there for the night of the 17th. According to witness testimony and CCTV footage, he returned on the 18th, first to collect his cash deposit.
He returned later in the day, according to the witness, to collect his ID and registration papers.
They argued in the affidavit that this demonstrated an intention on Barry’s part to “remove the physical record of the group’s presence at the hotel on the night of the deadly attack.”
However, the defence argued that Barry’s retrieval or destruction of his guest record wasn’t necessarily connected to the assault, as Robert Jr. was not the second guest at the Travelodge.
New Details Emerge
Robert Evans Jr. appeared in court only briefly, near the end of the business day. Dressed in black athletic pants and a black t-shirt, he stood before the judge for three minutes to hear that his hearing was continued. Robert Jr. was then remanded into custody.
However, new details about the assault emerged during his father and uncle’s hearing.
The prosecutor referred at one point to an eyewitness account that described Robert Jr. striking Rahman in the face outside his restaurant.
Rahman immediately fell backward. The witness described hearing “a loud crack; the noise a bowling ball would make if dropped from a height of 6 feet.”
Police affidavits reviewed by The Owen Sound Current noted that Robert Evans Jr.’s “act of violence, namely punching the victim in the face,” fractured Rahman’s skull.
The documents and testimony in court also reveal that the Evans’ are Irish Travellers, part of a distinct ethnic group with Irish origins that may also live in other countries without legal or birth ties to Ireland itself. They are a tight-knit minority whose ethnicity was officially recognized by the Irish State in 2017.
Timing and Status of Investigation Called Into Question
A few key themes drove the court’s discussion for over two hours:
Would the conduct of the two men charged with accessory in Canada also be considered criminal in Scotland?
In order to pervert justice, there must be an ongoing course of justice in motion — so was there?
The KC argued at various points that because Robert Jr. had not been identified as a suspect, and that Robert Sr. and Barry Evans were not yet aware of the investigation, justice was not “in motion” when each engaged in the conduct they’re accused of by Canadian police.
However, the procurator fiscal (the Scottish equivalent of the Crown prosecutor) argued that Owen Sound Police were dispatched at 9:23 p.m. that night to an assault in progress. That, he said, is when the course of justice began, whether or not police had identified by then who they sought for the crime.
Further, he argued, an act done to defeat or obstruct justice after a serious incident — one a reasonable person ought to know would result in criminal charges — meets the Scottish definition of intent to pervert justice.
“Moving someone 70 km away and then thousands of kilometres across an ocean would be an example of that,” the prosecutor stated.
Case Continued Until June 19
By 4:20 p.m., the court had run out of time. Barry and Robert Busby Evans were remanded back into custody, as was Robert Evans Jr. after his brief appearance.
The court set a date for the fourth preliminary hearing, which takes place on June 19 in Edinburgh. The extradition hearing itself is scheduled for mid-August. Given that the prison conditions argument was not heard at today’s hearing, it is expected to be discussed in June.
None of the allegations above have been proven in court. The judge in this case pointed out at one point that this is not a criminal trial, and it is not this court’s job to determine whether the incidents took place as described in the Canadian affidavits.
He will take statements made by the Canadian authorities at face value, the judge said. The KC agreed at that point that, “We can assume the Canadian system can prove all of the things the men are accused of.”
The Owen Sound Current will continue bringing updates on this developing case.
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