Four days after a Guelph plumbing apprentice was found stabbed at a London Christmas party, police have charged a London man with second-degree murder.

Miguel Chacon-Perez, 27, made a brief court appearance Wednesday where he was ordered to remain in custody while his defence team makes plans for a bail hearing in the near future in the Superior Court of Justice.

He also faces an assault charge related to events outside the Imperio Banquet Hall on Falcon Street just after midnight Sunday where Chad Robinson, 26, was attending a Christmas party.

Police said Robinson was found in the parking lot with a stab wound and without vital signs. He was pronounced dead at hospital. A knife was recovered at the crime scene, they said.



Chad Robinson

Evidence is protected by a court-ordered publication ban.

On Monday Chacon-Perez and three other men were charged with assaulting another man at the party. His injuries weren’t life-threatening and he was released from hospital.

One of the other accused, Irvin Aparicio Chicas, 26, of London, was also in court Wednesday charged with assaulting Robinson.

He has two other charges of assault causing bodily harm that were laid in September in an unrelated case.

Like Chacon-Perez, the details of his case are protected by a publication ban,

Justice of the Peace Robert Seneshen agreed to Chicas’ release that had been recommended by the Crown and defence lawyer Heather Barnes.

He was released on a $5,000 no-deposit bail to live with his girlfriend. He must obey a curfew and not associate or communicate with a long list of people read out in the Ontario Court of Justice.

He was also ordered not to have any weapons.

Wearing paint-spattered sweatpants and a zip-up fleece sweatshirt, the short, stocky man with the day’s growth of beard listened intently while the bail hearing was translated into Spanish for him by an interpreter.

Chacon-Perez appeared in court, neatly dressed in a pressed shirt and with tears in his eyes.

He also used the Spanish interpreter for the brief appearance.

Because he is facing a murder charge, his chances at bail must be weighed in the higher court before a judge.

His defence lawyer Cassandra DeMelo, who has taken on the case with lawyer Gordon Cudmore, told Seneshen she would be setting a bail hearing date and wanted to bring Chacon-Perez back to court by video on Thursday.

Chacon-Perez looked over at his family before he was led away, sadly blowing them a kiss.

Robinson, who worked for PTP Plumbing in Guelph for two years, was at the party with his co-workers. He had just turned 26 the week before his death.

London police are still asking members of the public who have information on the incident to call them at 519-661-5670 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).