The victims of a violent home invasion in Bradford almost three years ago, as well as many of their friends and family, reacted angrily and stormed out a Barrie courtroom as Terry Strome was found not guilty on all charges today.
Strome, who was 46 at the time of his arrest, had been in jail since he was taken into custody in September 2022 on a string of robbery charges stemming from the incident on Feb. 23 of that same year.
Strome went before Superior Court Madame Justice Vanessa Christie in a judge-alone trial in November.
On Wednesday, Christie read aloud portions of her written decision to a packed courtroom full of the victims’ supporters.
“The evidence is incapable of proving Mr. Strome’s guilty,” Christie explained near the end of her hour-long address. “Strome is found not guilty on all charges.”
Strome, clean-shaven and clad in a blue hoodie with glasses on his bald head, sat impassively and faced the judge throughout. He showed little reaction either to the decision or the passionate response it elicited.
Strome’s lawyer, Tamar Bitton, later spoke on his behalf.
“By the law, it was the correct verdict,” Bitton said outside the courtroom.
Bitton also offered words of compassion for the victims and their supporters.
“I understand their (frustration) and their pain,” she said. “They are victims in this case, there is no doubt about that. They’ve experienced serious (trauma).”
During the two-week trial and again during Christie’s judgment, court heard how two men arrived on the property, which also housed a business, and knocked on the house door. Four employees of the business and two family members who were in the house were confined as the intruders ransacked the premises.
The men, who wore full disguises that left just their eyes visible, were described as “one big guy and one little guy with curly hair,” who wore Nike running shoes.
They were armed with knives and bear spray, some of which was discharged during the robbery, though it was not clear whether it was intentional toward the victims or by accident.
The men made off with cash, firearms and other valuables.
But they made two critical errors in making their getaway, court heard. They dropped most of the money – a member of the victims’ family told a reporter that it was $70,000 – they had stolen from breaking open a safe and were later tracked through “Find a Friend” app by the home's owner.
That man, who testified at trial, also owned the business and was not at home when the robbery occurred. He told court he was tracking his mother’s iPhone that had been taken by the robbers.
Using that location information, police immediately attended a residence on Morris Road in Bradford and put it under surveillance, watching three men leave carrying bags.
One man was later arrested leaving the house. Police soon discovered that he had Strome listening in by open call on his phone, court heard. That development alerted police to Strome’s potential involvement and the Crown believed he was the bigger of the two robbers.
His DNA could not be excluded from a sample of multiple donors found on goggles that were recovered from the same residence where the robbers had apparently fled.
That call, the DNA evidence and the discovery of property taken in the robbery, including guns, that were found on Morris Road were the crux of the Crown’s case.
But Christie largely rejected it, providing a lengthy explanation about why she put little or no weight on it incriminating Strome.
“The facts suggest a number of suspects,” Christie said in her judgment.
In effect, Strome benefited from being present in a house of known criminal activity and therefore also multiple suspects.
“All (the Crown’s evidence) does is establish a connection between Mr. Strome and Morris Road,” said Christie, and not the robbery.
It was at that point in the proceedings that some people in the public gallery became visibly angry.
The large group of supporters were later ushered into a vacant courtroom by court staff to meet with the Crown.
They offered no formal comment when asked by a reporter, but a man later made a telling and succinct assessment of the outcome.
“They scored more goals than we did. That’s the system,” said the man, who would not provide his name.
Bitton said she expected her client to be released from custody after procedural matters were dealt with Wednesday afternoon.
