Source: Toronto Star, Canada.com
TORONTO - A prominent member of the gay community in Toronto was killed by his partner of more than 10 years because their relationship was over and he was afraid of losing his lavish lifestyle, the prosecution argued Tuesday.
Latest: Mendez-Romero acquitted of murder charge (3/4/08)
Ivan Mendez-Romero, 38, is accused of killing Janko Naglic, 56, on Oct. 26, 2004. His first-degree murder trial opened yesterday with the Crown, Ann Morgan, breezing through a rapid-clip overview of the case to be presented.
Mendez-Romero was a "desperate man" when he suffocated Naglic inside their home, said Crown attorney Ann Morgan in her opening address to the jury at the first-degree murder trial.
"I'm going to kill you, Slavic bastard.''
That is the threat, according to the Crown, that Mendez-Romero had made and which a worried Naglic repeated to several friends, expressing his fear of going home. He'd ordered Mendez-Romero to vacate the premises and there'd been a heated argument. "Ivan wants all his money and half the club,'' Morgan told court.
A video of the home and the murder scene shown at the trial provided a glimpse of what Mendez-Romero stood to lose.
In his professional life, Naglic may have owned and operated one of the most hard-fisted gay clubs in Toronto, The Barn and the Stables, but at home he was a man of earnest refinement. No Brokeback Mountain rough stuff here, the posh Balliol St. address he shared for many years with his lover, Ivan Mendez-Romero.
Everywhere in the lavish midtown Toronto home there are mirrors and porcelain and artwork, glittery things, possessions of a man with perhaps more money than instinctive taste. Deco Liberace, as one observer snidely noted.
A native of Cuba, Mendez-Romero, now 39, had worked at The Barn since meeting Naglic 11 years earlier. "This is a rags-to-riches story about Mr. Mendez-Romero and how he escaped a life of poverty in Cuba to find himself a partner to the wealthy Mr. Naglic, living in his home, employed in his bar, enjoying Mr. Naglic's Florida condos and ultimately a yacht.''
Seven months prior to the murder, the court heard, Mendez-Romero had entered into a "marriage of convenience'' with a woman from Slovenia whose parents were long-time acquaintances of Naglic. This union appears to have been orchestrated by Naglic, although those details have yet to be divulged.
But Mendez-Romero, in the Crown's scenario, took his vows a little too literally. He was cuckolding his lover with his wife, which a distraught Naglic discovered when he found the couple in a Minden, Ont., motel room.
And that's when Naglic allegedly decided to "end it,'' scheduling an appointment with his lawyer, apparently to legally disentangle himself from a relationship with common-law complications.
The "rags to riches" story for the Cuban immigrant was about to end, suggested the prosecutor. "Mr. Mendez-Romero was now out of the home, no job, no home, no money."
The burly, bearded defendant looked on quietly from the prisoner's box as Morgan outlined the prosecution's case, which primarily involves alleged threats he made and not direct evidence implicating him in Naglic's murder.
Morgan told jury members they will hear from a number of Naglic's friends who will testify about conversations in the days leading to his death, where he allegedly spoke of his fear of Mendez-Romero and of alleged threats.
Naglic told a friend that when he ordered Mendez-Romero to leave his home, the defendant allegedly replied, "No, you get out of the house. I am going to kill you, you Slavic bastard."
The day Naglic was killed, officers who arrived on the scene did not find any signs of robbery or of forced entry. The back door of the home, which led out to a swimming pool, was slightly ajar.
Naglic's body was found sprawled on the stairs, headfirst and facedown, duct tape wrapped around his mouth and one hand. Cause of death was asphyxiation.
Full article: Gay lover accused of murder was a ‘desperate man,’ says Crown
Accused cheated on lover with wife | Toronto Star