‘Truly evil’ crack dealer jailed for preying on addicts

KITCHENER — Already convicted by a jury of preying on drug addicts, Kevin Moyston tried to convince a judge Monday that he is actually a nice guy worried about his dying grandmother.

It didn’t work.

Justice Robert Reilly sentenced the unrepentant crack cocaine dealer to 6½ years in prison, saying it would have been even longer if he didn’t face almost certain deportation to Jamaica when he gets out of custody.

“You are not a good person, Mr. Moyston,” Reilly said. “You are a truly evil person.”

Moyston, 37, testified during a two-week trial that he doesn’t even know what crack looks like and had never met the two victims.

But jurors fully accepted the evidence of Cindy Embury, 46, and Shawna McNeil, 37, that Moyston abused them after they racked up drug debts over an eight-month period in 2006.

He was convicted of 14 counts including trafficking, assault causing bodily harm, assault with a weapon, threatening, kidnapping and inducing the women to prostitute themselves.

Moyston was kind to the women at first – even supplying free crack – before taking over their apartments, beating them and making them work off their debts on the street.

“Basically, what Mr. Moyston was doing was exploiting the vulnerability of these rather sad crack addicts,” Reilly said.

Both women were longtime addicts with criminal records of property crimes to support their habits.

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They knew Moyston — who had no prior record — only by his nicknames, one of which was Monster.

Embury was punched, dragged down stairs by the hair, hit with a belt and injured when her arm was twisted behind her back.


Moyston once partially hung her over the balcony of her Queen Street apartment and threatened to slice her from her genitals to her throat if she didn’t pay him.

McNeil had her finger broken and was hit in the legs with a metal bar from a bicycle, among other assaults.

Moyston came to Canada on a visitor’s visa in 2005. He claimed he lived in Toronto and only came to Kitchener to look for work.

Crown prosecutor Andre Rajna said he actually set up a business here making money as a street-level crack dealer.

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Moyston — who is not a user himself and sold drugs strictly for profit — stuck to his story despite the jury verdict, pleading for a break in a long, rambling address to the judge.

He insisted jurors got it wrong and objected to his portrayal in court as a ruthless, abusive man who manipulated the two women.

“I don’t even watch violent movies,” Moyston said.

Defence lawyer Munyonzwe Hamalengwa asked for just two years in custody, stressing the victims were already part of the drug subculture when they met Moyston.

“These are not innocent lilies in the wild,” he said.

Hamalengwa also argued the sentence should be reduced because Moyston will be deported, saying a shorter prison term would save the Canadian government money.

Reilly deducted a year from the sentence for time Moyston spent in pretrial custody and on restrictive bail terms.

He said he also took into account the likelihood he’ll be kicked out of the country, reducing the sentence he would have otherwise imposed by another 18 months or so.

bcaldwell@therecord.com

Police name east end homicide victim
CBC News Posted: Apr 18, 2011 1:36 PM MT Last Updated: Apr 18, 2011 1:36 PM MT
John Stanley Kwiatkowski, 29, was found dead in this east end home on Thursday. Scott Fralick/CBC News

A man who was found dead in an east Edmonton home last week was identified by police Monday as John Stanley Kwiatkowski.

Kwiatkowski, 29, was found early Thursday morning in a house at 34th Street and 103rd Avenue.

His death was ruled a homicide by police. They are not releasing the cause of death for investigative reasons.

Police have not yet arrested or charged anyone in Kwiatkowski’s death.

Teen refugee sent to Mexico to get new hearing
CBC News Posted: Apr 19, 2011 12:23 PM ET Last Updated: Apr 19, 2011 2:24 PM ET
Josette Rosenzweig came to live in Canada in 2008 after alleging she was beaten by her mother. (Courtesy of Josette Rosenzweig Espinal)

Ontario’s highest court has ordered a new hearing for a Mexican teen who was granted refugee status in Canada but was later sent back to her country.

Josette Rosenzweig Issasi, 14, had been living in Canada for 21 months when she was granted refugee status in September 2010.


She came to live in Toronto and successfully applied for refugee status after alleging her mother beat her in Cancun, Mexico.

But the Ontario Superior Court of Justice then ordered that she be sent back to Mexico after her mother, Marlen Rodriguez Issasi, appealed the board’s decision. Rodriguez Issasi said the refugee board’s ruling violated an article concerning child abduction under the Hague Convention, an international treaty.

The girl was sent back to Mexico in October 2010.

But the girl’s father, a refugee claimant in Norway named Kenneth Espinal Rosenzweig, subsequently appealed the Superior Court ruling.

‘I feel really happy’

The Ontario Court of Appeal has now ruled that the Superior Court made the wrong decision and ordered a new hearing into the mother’s Hague Convention appeal. In the decision released Monday, the court ruled that she must return to Canada to participate in the hearing.

“I feel really happy and excited that Josette is going to be here and come back,” said her aunt, Josette Rosenzweig Espinal. Her niece lived with her in Toronto.

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The lawyer for the girl’s mother refused to comment.

With files from CBC’s Lorenda Reddekopp, The Canadian Press

Tories winning over immigrants, new poll says

Prime Minister Stephen Harper (R) and his wife Laureen sip tea during a traditional tea service at the Mon Sheong Long Term Care Centre in Richmond Hill on April 15, 2011. (REUTERS/Mike Cassese)

By David Akin, Parliamentary Bureau Chief

OTTAWA – The federal Conservatives appear to be successfully winning the support of Canadians born outside of Canada, a key objective the party has had since the merger of the Alliance and Progressive Conservative parties nearly a decade ago.

Abacus Data Inc., in a poll released Monday, said that among decided voters who are immigrants, the Conservatives had 47% support followed by the Liberals at 33% and the NDP at 12%.

Still, the Abacus poll, like several others in the last few days, shows Conservative support across Canada – now at 37% – has still not broken through to majority territory, although is up a point since Abacus’ last poll on March 28.

The survey found the Liberals were the pick of 29% of voters, up two points, the NDP was the choice of 20% – unchanged – and the Greens were at 5% – down three points.

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For example, in Quebec, Bloc Quebecois support has dropped six points to 31%, while Liberal support has risen five points. The three federalist parties are in a near dead heat in that province: Liberals at 23%, NDP at 22% and Conservatives at 21%.

In Ontario, Abacus found the Tories have 40% and the Liberals have 37% which, given the poll’s margin of error, amounts to a statistical tie. The NDP have 19% of the votes in Canada’s most populous province.

Abacus surveyed 1,005 Canadians selected randomly from its online panel of 75,000. The poll was taken between April 11 and 15 and the pollster says the results have an accuracy comparable to random poll of within 3.2 percentage points 19 times out of 20.