Hamilton man pleads guilty to obstructing police in Marko Bakir homicide
A 43-year-old Hamilton man has pleaded guilty to obstructing police for lying in an interview with a homicide detective about his connection to a man accused of killing 31-year-old Marko Bakir.
Mark Buzzelli was initially charged with accessory after the fact to murder when he was arrested Oct. 27, 2022. In court Wednesday, that charge was withdrawn in exchange for a plea of obstructing police. Following a joint submission by the defence and prosecution, Ontario Court Justice Martha Zivolak handed Buzzelli a suspended sentence with 12 months probation.
Bakir was shot three times in the driveway of his home on Clifton Downs Road on the west Mountain around 8:15 p.m. Nov. 22, 2018. He was later found by a neighbour and pronounced dead.
According to an agreed statement of facts read by assistant Crown attorney Amber Lepchuk, Hamilton police believe Bakir loaned his friend Alessandro (Gino) Giammichele $100,000 in September 2018 with the understanding that Giammichele would invest the money.
Giammichele failed to make interest payments and when Bakir started asking for his money back the relationship became hostile, court heard. Police believe that when Bakir threatened to expose the financial issue to Giammichele's father and uncle, Giammichele allegedly arranged for Abdelaziz Ibrahim to shoot Bakir.
Buzzelli was the second most called number on Giammichele's phone, Lepchuk said, adding that on the night of the murder Giammichele called Buzzelli right before his phone turned off around 6:44 p.m. After the murder, Buzzelli was the first person he sent a text message to at 9:26 p.m.
On April 16, 2019, Buzzelli was interviewed by Det. Rich Wouters. He claimed not to remember Giammichele's name and said he didn't know the man well. He appeared nervous and was sweating, court heard.
The truth was Buzzelli had actually let Giammichele stay with him for a few days after the murder and later visited Giammichele in the Dominican Republic, where the accused killer stayed until returning to Ontario in May 2019.
Phone records showed Giammichele texted Buzzelli two days after his April 2019 interview asking how it went, Lepchuk said.
Buzzelli was later interviewed again by Det. Troy Ashbaugh in March 2022 and confessed to lying in his first statement. Buzzelli told police that Giammichele at some point confessed to the shooting and also dropped off a black handgun in a gym bag at his house for a few nights, Lepchuk said.
Both Ibrahim and Giammichele were charged with first-degree murder in May 2022. Giammichele remains in custody. The charges against him have not been proven in court.
Ibrahim, an apparent hit man who was also charged in two unrelated fatal shootings in York Region and Brantford, died in jail in August 2022.
Buzzelli's lawyer Jeff Manishen told the court his client was born in Toronto and raised in Hamilton and Burlington. His family is supportive.
He took some music courses at Mohawk College and then a pre-firefighting course at Seneca College. He worked in the firefighting field for a private company in Grand Prairie, Alta., before running into difficulties there and returning to Ontario. For a time, he worked security at Solid Gold, a strip club in Burlington. Buzzelli has a dated and unrelated criminal record, court heard.
When he was first interviewed by police it was an extremely stressful situation" and he lied, Manishen said. But he later chose to provide police with details.
Buzzelli spent about 20 days in jail before being released on bail. Since then, he's made positive steps," Manishen said. This includes securing a job working as a homebuilder.
These are serious matters and need to be dealt with in a serious disposition," Zivolak said in sentencing Buzzelli.
She noted that the sentence could be categorized on the low end" of what is appropriate. But given the facts and the plea, it's appropriate. Buzzelli's probation conditions include keeping the peace and no contact with Giammichele.
The preliminary inquiry in Giammichele's case is scheduled to begin next January and no trial dates have been set.
Nicole O'Reilly is a crime and justice reporter at The Spectator. noreilly@thespec.com