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Hilly's liquor licence lifted Speedy decision pleases neighbors of violence-linked Scarborough club; Philip Mascoll TORONTO STAR. Toronto Star. Toronto, Ont.: Jan 20, 1994. Sec. F. pg. A.7
It took just 10 minutes to seal the fate of a violence-plagued restaurant that has been the bane of a Scarborough neighborhood for two years.
Not only did a Liquor Licence Board of Ontario panel cancel the liquor licence of Hilly's Restaurant and Dining Lounge, chairperson Munyonzwe Hamalengwa said he would have gone further.
"If the board had the power, it would have recommended this licensee never be granted another licence for the rest of his life," Hamalengwa said.
He and fellow panel member Sheila Lamontagne had adjourned the hearing for 10 minutes before lunch yesterday to consider whether they would reserve their decision or deliver it later in the day.
To the surprise of the group of residents from the Lawrence Ave. E. and Brimley Rd. neighborhood, where there have been three shootings connected with the restaurant in the past 12 months, the panel came back with their decision.
In delivering the judgment, an obviously angry Hamalengwa called Hilly's "a haven for criminal activity.
"If innocent people can be shot at outside the establishment, can you imagine what was going on inside?"
Neither owner Mayn Persaud nor his lawyer, V. E. Misir, appeared at yesterday's meeting.
Nor were they at Scarborough's council chamber Tuesday night, when more than 200 residents told a special public hearing of the board the character of their quiet neighborhood had changed since the club opened two years ago.
Last night, Ras Rico, a spokesperson for Persaud's lawyer, said in an interview the owner did not see himself as responsible for "the criminal element" that had invaded his business and its environs.
"If there is a criminal problem, then the police must deal with it. He (Persaud) is not the problem; the criminals are."
The panel was told that Persaud owes $72,000 in retail sales tax.
Rico said the figure is much lower and "arrangements" have been made with the government to deal with this.
Several of the restaurant's neighbors were at yesterday's meeting to hear testimony of Metro police officers from 41 Division.
Detective Ian Scott, one of the supervisors of the division's major crimes squad, told the panel that bullets narrowly missed two innocent bystanders after their car was commandeered by a victim in a Jan. 6 shooting at Hilly's.
At least two bullets were fired at head level into the car by "three or four" gunmen, who had chased the already wounded man out of the club, he said.
The Whitby men who were in the car had stopped to use a public telephone in the plaza when the shooting started and a man with a leg wound dove into their car shouting "Drive! Drive! Drive!," Scott said.
Any hesitation about following the man's order ended when the car's back window was blown out by gunfire, the detective said.
A second man shot in the Jan. 6 incident walked around with a bullet in his wrist for a week before offering to pay staff at Doctors Hospital in cash to remove it, police said.
No one at Hilly's reported the incident, Scott said.
When questioned, Scott said, Persaud's statement was identical to one he gave about another shooting: " 'I was in the kitchen.' "
One of the happiest at the lifting of the licence that effectively closes Hilly's was Vince McCarthy, owner of Comet Bowling Lanes, next door to the restaurant.
"It's a great thing for me. My business has lost terribly because of the situation at Hilly's," he said.
Neighbor Fred Silk said the closing would make the area safer.
"I feel a lot better about the kids going into the plaza now. I am only appalled it took so long to shut it down."
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Last Modified: August 11, 2007
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