The wife of a man accused of killing a Toronto police constable is telling his murder trial she thought the people approaching them that night were trying to break into their car to hurt them.
Aaida Shaikh told jurors hearing Umar Zameer’s case that a man and woman initially walked toward their BMW in an underground parking garage shortly after midnight on July 2, 2021, but then rushed over after she signalled that she and her husband didn’t want to talk.
Shaikh said at one point, she caught a glimpse of a silver chain with a “black thing” on it after the woman pulled it out of her shirt, but figured it was a fake badge because it didn’t look like what she had seen in the movies.
She said she briefly considered the possibility that the pair may be police, but quickly dismissed that idea because they weren’t dressed like police officers and were coming at them suspiciously and aggressively, banging on the car in a way that made her think they were trying to break the windows.
Zameer has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of Det. Const. Jeffrey Northrup, who died on July 2, 2021 after he was struck by a car while investigating a stabbing in an underground parking garage at Toronto City Hall.
Court has heard Zameer was not involved in the stabbing.