Men plead guilty in teen’s killing during random Winnipeg home invasion

WINNIPEG – Two men have pleaded guilty in the death of a teenager whose last moments were captured on a phone call with 911 dispatchers before he was stabbed to death during a random home invasion.

Ronald Bruce Chubb pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and Geordie Delmar James pleaded guilty to manslaughter Tuesday for the killing of Jaime Adao Jr., 17, in Winnipeg last year
Court heard that Chubb and James were caught on security camera footage from a nearby business entering the backyard of Adao Jr.’s home in the city’s West End neighbourhood in March 2019. James forced the back door open before the two men went inside.

Adao Jr. was upstairs with his grandmother, who was asleep. When he heard sounds, he called police.

Both the intruders had armed themselves with kitchen knives. James went to the basement and started filling a laundry basket with items to steal.

Chubb went upstairs where Adao Jr. was hiding in a room.

Crown prosecutor Vanessa Gama told court in an agreed statement of facts that Chubb and the teen got into a struggle. Adao Jr. was stabbed multiple times, including a fatal wound to the back.
“The sounds of the struggle were caught on the 911 call,” Gama said.

Police have said officers arrived within four minutes. They rushed upstairs, court heard, and found Chubb with the knife. When he refused to drop the weapon, police shot him.

James was in the living room during the struggle looking for more items to steal, court was told. When he heard the gunshots, he fled from the house.

While James was not involved in the stabbing, Gama explained to the court that because the lights were on, there was objective foreseeability that someone could be injured when he broke into the home.

Both men are to be sentenced Jan. 15.

Adao Jr. was a Grade 12 student at Technical Vocational High School, known as Tech Voc, and had been a student there since Grade 9.

Friends have said the teen’s parents came to Manitoba through the provincial nominee program as labourers and eventually opened two successful bakeries. His parents own the popular Jimel’s Bakery and the teen often worked behind the counter.

Adao Jr.’s random slaying shook police and the larger community. Winnipeg police Cost. Rob Carver told a news conference after the killing that hearing the 911 call was an extremely difficult moment in his 25-year career.

“There was a very calm and collected young man on the phone for the bulk of the phone call and it turned into an absolutely gut-wrenchingly tragic event,” Carver said at the time.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 27, 2020.