VANCOUVER –
A person convicted of the first-degree homicide of a 13-year-old lady desires to seem at his sentencing listening to by video over worry for his security, his lawyer advised a B.C. Supreme Court docket listening to on Tuesday.
Kevin McCollough mentioned Ibrahim Ali’s attendance in particular person would pose “actual issues of safety” and the defence is ready to file further affidavits to assist their place.
Ali’s defence beforehand advised the courtroom that police knowledgeable them the sufferer’s father introduced a gun to courtroom on the day of the responsible verdict final December.
Whereas no prices had been laid, the daddy of the lady was issued a five-year weapons ban in a Surrey courtroom this month after two licensed weapons had been seized from his house.
McCullough advised Tuesday’s listening to that if Ali is compelled to attend the upcoming sentencing in particular person, he’ll attend remotely.
“If Mr. Ali goes to be current, I am definitely not going to be (caught) within the gunfire,” he mentioned. “I am not going to be current. There are materials issues of safety.”
McCullough advised Justice Lance Bernard that he “can not imagine” the Crown’s place that Ali should attend in particular person, given what has occurred.
“This isn’t a secure atmosphere for me,” he mentioned of the courthouse in Vancouver.
The choose advised the defence lawyer to cease talking, saying the courtroom would take care of the matter of Ali’s sentencing look at a later date.
The physique of the lady – whose title is protected by a publication ban – was present in Burnaby’s Central Park in July 2017 and Ali was arrested the subsequent 12 months.
A jury took lower than 24 hours to succeed in its responsible verdict on the finish of the eight-month trial final December.
Ali faces a compulsory life time period with no probability of parole for 25 years.
McCullough mentioned Tuesday that Ali is “adamant that he’s harmless.”
“He’s adamant that he did not kill (the sufferer), and I anticipate he can be saying that repeatedly in an open courtroom if he had been obliged to come back.”
Prosecutor Isobel Keeley mentioned the Crown is against Ali attending his sentencing remotely, and the Legal Code signifies such an look must be in particular person until the defence and Crown agree on an alternate with the courtroom’s approval.
She mentioned members of the murdered lady’s household can be travelling from China to attend, and she or he expects they may ship three separate sufferer impression statements.
A type of can be a video from the sufferer’s father studying his assertion in Mandarin, with a translated copy to be learn aloud in English, Keeley mentioned.
One other listening to is scheduled Friday to verify sentencing dates..
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed April 16, 2024.
