Lucy Li was at 347 Arvin Ave. on the day of a fatal shooting, but said she only reluctantly drove her husband Oliver Karafa after his other options for a ride fell through.
Karafa was prohibited from driving following an accident, so Li often drove him to business meetings, Li said in court Thursday, when she took the stand in her own defence.
“I was practically his chauffeur,” she said.
On the day of the shooting, Lucy Li said she knew that Oliver Karafa wanted her to drop him off at a friend’s place, where he was picking up an Audi Q5 that he wanted to sell.
Court ExhibitLi and Karafa are jointly charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder for the Feb. 28, 2021, shooting that killed Tyler Pratt and seriously hurt his girlfriend Jordyn Romano. Both have pleaded not guilty.
On Thursday morning, Peter Zaduk, one of Karafa’s defence lawyers, told the court Karafa would not be calling evidence, before Li’s lawyer Liam O’Connor called her to the stand.
Li said she found the property on Arvin, along with several others, when she did a Google search for Hamilton warehouses for sale or lease. She knew Karafa was looking for a bigger property for a marijuana growing operation. Karafa had been to the property twice before, once with Li waiting in the car, she said.
The morning of Feb. 28, 2021, started like any other Sunday morning, she told the court. Karafa woke before her. She threw on a hoodie and joined him downstairs in their Toronto condo for breakfast, where they spoke about plans for the day.
Li’s parents had spent the past year in Vancouver during the pandemic, and Li was looking forward to a dinner with her mother and sisters that night at her parent’s North York property. She was also a little nervous because she knew her mother would have questions about Li’s future and whether she was ready to return to her mom’s business. Li took a trip with one of her sister’s over to her parent’s Flaremore Crescent house to clean up before her mom’s arrival.
Li said she also knew that Karafa wanted her to drop him off at a friend’s place, where he was picking up an Audi Q5 that he wanted to sell. Flipping vehicles was one of many of Karafa’s businesses, she said, adding that he’d never had problems and everything was legal. Karafa borrowed money from her to buy the Audi, but promised to pay it back when a wire from Europe came in.
Court has already seen surveillance video that allegedly shows Karafa picking up the car. Li said she initially planned to go pick up a Starbuck’s order and head home, but when Karafa’s friend’s mom wouldn’t let him take the licence plates, he asked her to drive the Audi and Karafa drove the Mercedes. Because he wasn’t allowed to drive, if Karafa got pulled over for driving a vehicle without plates he faced arrest, Li said.
So she agreed and drove the Audi to Karafa’s existing nearby marijuana growing operation, which Li said was legal and was operated out of a property her mom owned. There, Karafa met other friends and people who Li believed were there to detail the Audi to make it look better for sale, she said.
Back at their condo, Li said she took a nap and Karafa woke her to tell her that she had to drive him to the Arvin Avenue meeting.
“He told me he tried his best, but couldn’t find anyone,” she said. He told her that if she dropped him off she wouldn’t be late for dinner.
“I was pretty upset,” Li said, adding that she felt like he was imposing this on her “very last minute.”
But she agreed.
Court heard Li and two of her sisters (triplets) were born in Shenzhen, China, the eldest of what would eventually become a family of seven. When the sisters were young, they were left with family while their parents established themselves in Canada. The girls following when they were seven. Her dad operated a driving school for Chinese immigrants, before her mom moved into wealth management. Court heard she runs a successful company that also brokers insurance policies for Chinese immigrants.
By the time the triplets were in high school, the family had moved to North York and she attended Earl Haig Secondary School. In Grade 9, Li met Karafa, who was in Grade 11 and had just come to Canada from Europe. She liked him right away.
“He was older and cool from the beginning,” Li said. “I was pretty nerdy with braces and bangs.”
The two dated briefly.
At 17, after graduating high school, Li studied business at Western University. But her main focus was on courses and training to become certified to sell insurance for her mother’s company. She later transferred to Ryerson University, but remains four credits shy of graduating.
Li said she realized she needed more life experience and, over Christmas in 2018, she asked for some time to pursue other interests. Li said her mom was understanding and offered to pay Li an allowance for a year or two — an agreement she anticipated was coming to an end at the Feb. 28 dinner.
The triplets also posted pictures to Instagram and gained enough followers to attract sponsors — although Li told the court the money from that was enough for fun but not to live off. It was around this time, when Li was 23, that she and Karafa reunited. The relationship “moved fast” and she moved in by their second date; later they got a condo together on Erskine Avenue.
The couple hastily got married online on May 16, 2020, while at the airport after Li was told that was the only way she would be allowed to board a flight to Europe — where Karafa has citizenship — during pandemic lockdowns.
It was while driving Karafa to business meetings at his friend Sasha’s office Mississauga that she would sometimes see Pratt and Romano. Li says Karafa told her that the couple wanted to start a business in Toronto bringing in girls from lower Vancouver and they wanted Karafa to get girls from Prague, Czech Republic. Li says her understanding was that this would be some sort of prostitution or escort business, and she immediately told Karafa that she was against it. This led an argument.
She also heard from an ex-boyfriend of one of her sister’s that Pratt was a well-known drug dealer in Vancouver, she said. So instead of the escort business, Karafa proposed Pratt invest in a business idea selling personal protective equipment (PPE) in Europe, Li said.
“Following our fight over these two individuals, I really didn’t want Oliver to be associated with them,” she said. “He knew my opinion and started not telling me when he was going to meet them … would downplay their communications.”
Li said she believed Pratt was a dangerous criminal and she wanted nothing to do with either of them. It wasn’t until January 2021 that Li said she was officially introduced to Pratt and Romano. By that point, one of her sisters was dating Sasha, so instead of waiting in the car for Karafa during the business meetings at Sasha’s office, she would go up and hang out with her sister. She remembered Pratt sending Romano to join them. Romano was “nice” and they found common ground chatting.
Later, she said Karafa seemed stressed and she pressed him to tell her what was going on.
“He ended up telling me maybe a sugar-coated version,” Li said, adding that she was told the trucks of PPE in Europe weren’t selling as fast as Karafa expected and that people on payment schedules were not paying on time.
Pratt was expecting the trucks — and money — to “roll” and Karafa couldn’t keep up with Pratt’s demands.
Li recalled that she suggested Karafa talk to Sasha about it, but he didn’t trust his friend not to tell Pratt. Li said she got frustrated and said it was a little bit of an “I told you so,” moment.
Maybe a week later Karafa, came to her with a proposed solution. Karafa had pitched Pratt on selling a 20-year insurance policy that includes life insurance, investments and benefits. Initially, Li said she was told that Pratt had a house in British Columbia and a condo. She didn’t see helping to broker an insurance policy as being in business with him and agreed to help.
At a meeting at her parents’ North York home, she said Pratt understood right away, but Romano struggled to understand how the policy would work.
At a second meeting, this time in Hamilton, she said she learned nothing was in Pratt’s name — the house was in the name of his former wife. Pratt and Romano had a vehicle, and cash in a wall. She realized they would not qualify.
But what “eventually alarmed” Li was the realization that Pratt saw this as another potential business opportunity in which he could invite friends to also invest in insurance policies, Li said. She feared this meant gang members using her to launder money or hide money from police.
Pratt also suggested he would take a commission of 40 to 50 per cent for finding clients, she said.
Li said she thought the idea was “insane” but just nodded and didn’t say a word out of fear.
On the ride home, she told Karafa how upset she was. There was no way the insurance application was going through and Karafa would have to tell them, she said.
But Karafa asked her to continue along with the meetings, pretending she was completing the application to buy him time to sort out the finances.
Li said Karafa asked her to be a “good wife” and that line worked. She knew Karafa was in trouble and agreed to “string them along” to give Karafa a couple of months before she would eventually tell them the application had been rejected.
The trial continues Monday.
Nicole O’Reilly is a crime and justice reporter at The Spectator. noreilly@thespec.com
