Trio charged in death of Ontario restaurateur fight extradition from Scotland

Three men facing charges in the death of an Owen Sound, Ont., restaurant owner are fighting their extradition from Scotland with claims that Canadian jails are overcrowded and disease-ridden. 

Sharif Rahman, 44, was attacked outside of The Curry House restaurant in downtown Owen Sound on Aug. 17, 2023, after confronting three men about an unpaid $150 bill. The 44-year-old husband and father of a young girl died a week later in a London, Ont., hospital.

Robert Evans, 24, faces a charge of manslaughter. His father, Robert Busby Evans, 47, and his uncle, Barry Evans, 54, are charged with being accessories after the fact. All three remain in custody pending extradition proceedings.

At a preliminary hearing in Edinburgh Sheriff Court last week, their lawyer claimed that overcrowding and "harsh conditions" in Ontario provincial jails are "known issues" and should be considered in the extradition decision.

The lawyer also raised concerns about access to health care, citing an outbreak in March of streptococcal A disease that killed two inmates at the Maplehurst Correctional Complex in Milton, Ont. 

The court was told that an expert's report on conditions at Canadian correctional institutions has been requested. 

Sheriff Julius Komorowski, who presided over the hearing, instructed the prosecution to liaise with Ontario authorities to determine where the three men would be held if extradited and to seek assurances about jail conditions. 

No family or friends of the accused were present during the proceedings. 

The trio are scheduled to return to court in late April for the conclusion of the preliminary hearing.

Canadian authorities have provided the public with scant information about the case, refusing to discuss why the accused were in the country, how and when they left, or details about the altercation that led to Rahman's death. 

In August 2024, almost a year after the incident, police issued a brief news release saying arrests had been made.

It wasn't until Dec. 19 that investigators disclosed the names of the suspects and confirmed that the father and son had been apprehended in late July, and the uncle at the end of October.

Ontario court documents about the case remain sealed.

Questions from CBC News about the case have gone unanswered, with the Ministry of the Attorney General, Crown and courts all saying there is no "publicly available information" to share.

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/