AUBURN — A grand jury on Tuesday indicted a fourth person charged in connection with a melee near Kennedy Park nearly a year ago that led to the death of 38-year-old Donald Giusti of Lewiston.

Timothy Lamothe

Police said Timothy Lamothe, 27, a transient, used a metal pipe to knock a 17-year-old boy unconscious at the June 12, 2018, brawl.

Lamothe faces a charge of aggravated assault, a Class B crime, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

According to a police affidavit, Lamothe was seen on a street surveillance camera entering Knox Street from Kennedy park that night.

“It appears he is following a large group of black males,” according to an affidavit. “At one point, he disappears into a dark alleyway with several black males. By Lamothe’s body language and the way that he is following these black males, it appears Lamothe is instigating a fight.”

A witness told police that Lamothe had been a friend of Giusti and another man who were part of a large group of people who would gather in the park regularly.

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According to witness accounts, as many as 30 Somali and Congolese people clashed with roughly 15 white people at Knox and Spruce streets on the night of June 12. Police arrived at the scene at about 10:45 p.m., while the fight was in progress.

Giusti was found by police lying on Knox Street, blood seeping from his head. He died three days later at a Lewiston hospital from blunt force trauma to his head.

David Tuyishime, now 18, told police he had fought that night with a man who wore a “Miami Heat” shirt to gain control over a “black pole.” Police said Lamothe wore a “Miami Heat” tank top shirt that night.

Lamothe told investigators that a pair of Somali males tried to hit him with a pipe, but he grabbed it and tried to beat one of them with it, according to the affidavit. When police arrived at the scene, they told him to drop the pipe, which he did, he said.

Tuyishime’s older brother, Pierre Musafiri, 23, told police he had been in his apartment when he saw the fight break out on the street. He said he saw his brother fighting with a “big guy over a stick.” When Musafiri later reached for the stick, “the guy punched him,” he said. He believed he returned the man’s punch shortly before police arrived.

Tuyishime told a police detective that he was taken to the hospital because he’d been struck with a bat by a man wearing a “Miami Heat” shirt. He later told the detective that he’d been knocked unconscious by the man wielding the bat. After he regained consciousness, he and his brother, Musafiri, had fought with the same man who had hit him with the bat.

Musafiri was later charged with misdemeanor assault for allegedly kicking Giusti while he lay badly injured in the street. Musafiri, who has pleaded not guilty to the charge, has been free on $500 cash bail since shortly after his arrest.

Two minors, who were 13 and 17 years old at the time of the incident, have also been charged in the case. The older boy, Emmanuel Nkurunziza, now 18, faces a manslaughter charge for allegedly throwing a rock that dealt Giusti a fatal blow when it hit him in the head. He is being held at Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland.

A judge has ordered a mental examination for Lamothe to determine whether he’s competent to stand trial on the charge. He’s been released from Androscoggin County Jail on $750 cash bail and was ordered to have no contact with Musafiri, Tuyishime and three witnesses in the case.

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