Janitor convicted in 2009 restaurateur slaying

By Joe Warmington

George Koutroubis' killer, Andrew Campbell, was convicted in a Brampton courtroom Tuesday. (Toronto Sun files)

BRAMPTON - Andrew Campbell’s roll of the dice to dump his murder victim’s body in Peel Regional Police’s jurisdiction was always a sucker bet.
After four hours of deliberations in a Brampton courtroom Tuesday, his fool’s game was rewarded with a conviction of first-degree murder of much-loved Toronto restaurateur George Koutroubis.
But it was not without the 45-year-old former St. Lawrence Market janitor making one more wager.
Campbell’s bluff to the jury was Koutroubis, owner of the Six Steps restaurant, owed him money as a result of the restaurateur’s part in a cocaine ring and it was Campbell who was at risk.
“Complete fiction but a good try,” said legendary poker-faced Crown Attorney Steve Sherriff. “But, like his first gamble, this one didn’t win either.”
To think the 36-year-old Koutroubis lost his life over $27,000 in what fellow Crown Tyler Powell described as a small time betting game between friends and acquaintances.
With Justice John Sproat presiding, the 10-man, two-women jury heard that on Feb. 17, 2009, Campbell “lured” the victim to his Whitby home at 33 Ocean Pearl with the ruse that he was going to pay up.
Instead, because he could not cover the losses, he decided to eliminate the collector. When Koutroubis got to the home he ended up in Campbell’s garage, shot four times in the upper body.
Then, after he picked up his kids from school, the janitor attempted to clean up his mess by driving Koutroubis, slain and stuffed in the trunk of the dead man’s BMW SUV, to a parking lot behind a Brampton apartment complex near a bus stop.
For five days it sat there unnoticed while popular Koutroubis’s friends searched for him. For five weeks police kept track of the numbers and meticulously collected tips leading to a sure thing.
First Toronto Police 51 Division Detectives Deedee Newton and Debbie Harris put together a person’s of interest list — and Campbell was on it.
Then when Koutroubis’s body was discovered in Brampton, Peel Police Homicide Insp. Norm English assigned 26 detectives to the case, including Det. Sean Gormley and Const. Ryan Berrigan, who immediately dove into the complicated world of illegal sports betting.
Not long after, a tiny spot of Koutroubis’s blood was found in Campbell’s garage. Police had hit the jackpot.
However, Campbell mounted a long-shot-defence thanks to lawyers Vanessa Christie and Yoni Rahamim who presented a case of self-defence and accidental firearm discharge.
Campbell testified he was startled to see Koutroubis had followed him home and was shocked to be held up at gun point by a second “white” male. He told the court that during the struggle, Koutroubis, who he said actually owed him $170,000 from cocaine transactions, was accidentally shot four times.
He claimed the mystery passenger fled with the gun.
“Ask yourself does the Crown’s theory make sense that someone would lure someone to their house in broad daylight, when kids were coming home from school in a residential subdivision, and brazenly shoot them?” asked Christie.
But Sherriff pulled out his own ace during cross-examination when he asked Campbell after the so-called self defence shooting “are you worried about whether he’s alive or dead?”
Campbell answered “not necessarily worried.”
Sherriff followed with “so wouldn’t you care about whether George is going to live or die?”
Campbell’s answer was concise but honest.
“No.”
Sherriff said: “I was in utter disbelief” because “in 40 years of prosecution I had never had a witness say that before.”
He told the jury “a man is dying in your presence who owes you $170,000, you have 170 reasons to give him CPR ... You know why Andrew Campbell did nothing to help George? He wanted him dead.”
Campbell’s lack of empathy was further demonstrated with his emotionless refusal of Sproat’s offer to address the court where he could have apologized to Koutroubis’s sobbing family.
“He didn’t say he was sorry because he isn’t sorry,” said Sherriff.
“Cold,” Koutroubis’s older brother Bill used to describe Campbell, adding the worst part is “there was no reason to kill him because there is no way George would have even have pushed for the money anyway.”
Turns out Campbell lost this game of chance with Peel Police which solve most murders. He will now will serve the ultimate numbers game of life in prison with no parole for 25 years.