Are these people UK Gypsies?
CBC puts faces to names of trio charged in Ont. restaurateur's killing ahead of Scottish extradition hearing
Sharif Rahman found gravely injured outside Owen Sound restaurant in 2023
Jonathon Gatehouse, Albert Leung · CBC News · October 15
Photos from social media accounts show three men accused in the August 2023 killing of Owen Sound restaurant owner Sharif Rahman. Robert Evans, centre, is charged with manslaughter. His father, Robert Busby Evans, left, and uncle, Barry Evans, right, are charged with being accessories after the fact. (Facebook, Instagram, Barry Evans/Facebook)
As an extradition hearing for the accused in the August 2023 death of a southwestern Ontario restaurateur is set to begin in Scotland, a CBC News investigation has uncovered new information.
New pictures of the three men accused in the killing of Sharif Rahman in Owen Sound emerged after CBC won access to Scottish court files and used information in affidavits supplied by Canadian police to unearth social media profiles.
Until those photos emerged, the only glimpses of those accused in Rahman’s death came from grainy police handout photos.
Those pictures showed two individuals, one in a blue T-shirt, the other wearing orange, running down Owen Sound’s main street, as captured by a security camera. There was also an image of a speeding grey Ford Escape: their getaway vehicle.
Suspects flee following the August 2023 assault in downtown Owen Sound, Ont., that gravely injured Rahman. He died in hospital a week later. (Owen Sound Police Service/CBC)
In December 2024, police announced there had been three arrests — months before, in Edinburgh. But they provided no details beyond the names and ages of the accused — a father, son and uncle — who remain in custody in Scotland, pending the hearing set to begin on Oct. 20 on Canada's request for extradition.
Robert Evans, 25, faces a charge of manslaughter, while his father, Robert Busby Evans, 47, and his uncle Barry Evans, 54, are charged with being accessories after the fact.
The CBC News investigation uncovered images of the three men by tracing social media profiles and verifying them by geolocating photos, tracing family and friend groups and cross-referencing posted details like birthdays and vacations.
The newly discovered images add to what we already know about the men, including police accounts of how they came to Canada, what they did while they were here and how they returned to the U.K.
None of the accused have entered a plea, and the allegations against them have not been tested in court.
CBC News reached out to their legal representatives, and their immediate families, but did not receive any response.
Gravely injured outside restaurant
Rahman's death in a London, Ont., hospital, came a week after first responders found him lying on the rain-slicked pavement outside his restaurant, unconscious and gravely injured.
A group of men dining at The Curry House had allegedly tried to duck out on a $150 tab. When Rahman followed them outside, an argument ensued
Sharif Rahman moved to Owen Sound, Ont., in 2015, opening this popular downtown restaurant, The Curry House. (Albert Leung/CBC)
Police allege that Robert Evans Jr. threw the punch that felled Rahman. According to witness statements, the restauranteur's head hit the pavement with a sound likened to a dropped bowling ball.
Barry Evans, his uncle, faces an accessory after the fact charge for reportedly instructing Evans Jr. to "run," then driving him to Collingwood, an hour away.
His father, Robert Evans Sr., who wasn't at the restaurant, has also been charged as an accessory for allegedly buying an airline ticket for his son and arranging for his transport to Toronto's Pearson International Airport.
Police say Evans Jr. departed on a flight to Heathrow airport in the U.K. on Aug 18, 2023, the day after the altercation in Owen Sound. The uncle and another family member, who was at The Curry House but has not been charged, left that same evening on a flight to Glasgow. Evans Sr. followed a few days later, travelling to Manchester.
Arriving in Canada
According to the Scottish court files, Evans Jr. and Sr. entered Canada as visitors in early June 2023, using valid U.K. passports with fake names — Michael and Justin Jones.
They didn't have work visas. But police say the Evans family spent the summer criss-crossing the province, operating a cash-only business called Total Paving.
The documents identify the family as part of the U.K.’s “traveller” community. A number of those tight-knit clans have been flagged by authorities for operating driveway repair scams that span the globe.
"They're doing this all over continental Europe. They've done it in Australia, they're doing both in Canada and the U.S. We've detailed stories of them turning up in places such as an island off of Iceland," said Eamon Dillon, a journalist in Dublin, Ireland, with the Crime World podcast who has covered the groups for more than 25 years.
"The FBI describe them as the Irish traveller con fraud group."
WATCH | New details uncovered in restaurateur's killing:
Unmasking the suspects in Owen Sound restaurant owner’s death | Exclusive
October 14 |
Duration 6:29
Building on documents filed in a Scottish court, a CBC News investigation has verified images of the three men accused in connection with the killing of Owen Sound, Ont., restaurant owner Sharif Rahman. For The National, CBC’s Jonathon Gatehouse breaks down the case and how the father-son-uncle trio were finally tracked down in Edinburgh.
A simple pitch
Dillon said the pitch is simple. The men go door-to door offering to repave driveways for a "low" cash price, claiming to have excess asphalt they need to get rid of. However, the deal often proves to be too good to be true.
"The price changes because problems will be discovered. It will go up and up and up," said Dillon. “It's a tried and tested method of separating homeowners from their money.”
Dillon said the schemes often net thousands in cash payments each week, all of it out of sight of tax authorities.
CBC News contacted the Owen Sound Police Service and the Ontario Provincial Police to ask about their joint investigation in Rahman's killing and the allegations made in their Scottish court filings.
Both forces declined interview requests, citing the ongoing extradition proceedings.
‘Legal minefield’
Richard Kurland, a Vancouver-based immigration lawyer, said it will likely take many months before U.K. authorities make their final ruling on the extradition case.
"Extradition from another country is a legal minefield. You've got diplomacy, you've got that country's legal system and it can be Byzantine. You've got that country's constitutional human rights protections," said Kurland.
"Just because it's Scotland or the U.K. does not mean fast, easy extradition to Canada."
It's been more than a year since the Evans trio were arrested but the grief in Owen Sound over Rahman's death has hardly abated.
Rahman, centre, shown with his wife, Shayela Nasrin, left, and daughter Shaikha, right, came to Canada more than 10 years ago to start a family and a business. (Submitted by Shayela Nasrin)
"It was truly shocking," said Richard Thomas, a friend who worked with Rahman on the city's economic development committee. "Sharif, you know, he wore everything on his sleeve and he was really kind, and totally invested in the community."
Despite the delays in the case, Rahman's widow told CBC News she remains confident justice will eventually be served.
"As a family, it's really painful. We have a heavy heart," said Shayela Nasrin. "We want the people who did this behind bars.
"It may take time, but we have faith."
Jonathon Gatehouse can be contacted via email at jonathon.gatehouse@cbc.ca, or reached via the CBC's digitally encrypted Securedrop system at https://www.cbc.ca/securedrop/
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jonathon Gatehouse
Investigative Journalist
Jonathon Gatehouse has covered news and politics at home and abroad, reporting from dozens of countries. He has also written extensively about sports, covering seven Olympic Games and authoring a best-selling book on the business of pro-hockey. He works for CBC's national investigative unit in Toronto.
With files from Catriona Stewart in Edinburgh |
