Man jailed 14 years for manslaughter, other offences for North Bay shooting death

Man pleads guilty to manslaughter in North Bay A second man has pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter in a 2018 death case.

Ryan Abraham has been sentenced to 14 years in jail after being found guilty in North Bay of manslaughter, robbery and threatening death.

With time served and other factors, he will serve a little more than six more years behind bars.

Abraham, 31, pled guilty manslaughter and other charges in January, all related to offences he and another man committed in late November 2018.

He and another offender busted into a North Bay hotel room armed with a handgun and a shotgun. Three women were inside, one of whom allegedly owed money and they were threatened at gunpoint.

On Dec. 5 of that year, Abraham and a co-accused named Taylor Briscoe went to a Beattie Street residence wearing dark clothes and stockings over their faces.

“Their intention was to steal money at gunpoint from a woman residing in a basement apartment at that address who was involved in the drug subculture as a user and an occasional dealer,” the court decision said.

“Mr. Abraham was armed with a short-barrelled rifle and provided Mr. Briscoe with a pellet handgun. However, the home they intended to invade was occupied not only by their intended target, but also by the deceased, Abraham Kamerman. Mr. Kamerman was 45 years old at the time.”

The pair knocked on the door at 9 p.m. and a struggle ensued with Kamerman, who was shot several times and was killed.

Ryan Abraham fled the scene and a few days later, Dec. 8, 2018, called a cab in London, Ont., where he was hiding. He came out carrying two garbage bags, but when the cabbie tried to help him carry one of the bags, he felt “what he thought might have been an arm or a leg” in the bag.

At that point, Abraham punched and kicked the cabbie and tried to flee the scene, but the cabbie managed to grab the keys and run into a nearby retirement home.

Abraham followed him inside, where he accosted a man who was visiting a relative at the home. He stole that man’s rental car, which had the man’s cellphone inside. Police tracked the phone and Abraham was arrested.

He has been in custody since Dec. 8, 2018.

The main issue to be decided in sentencing was how much credit for time already served Abraham should receive. The defence wanted a credit of 20 months; the Crown argued that no more credit than six months should be given.

In the end, Justice Gregory Ellies settled on 12 months, leaving Abraham with a little more than six years left to serve.

Read the full decision here.