Victim’s mother angered over teen girl’s sentence in mall parking lot killing
Nearly a year after 16-year-old Ahmad Al Marrach was killed in Halifax, the first of four youths charged in connection with his death has been sentenced.
The girl, who was 14 at the time of the crime, pled guilty to manslaughter in October 2024.
On Thursday, a judge handed her a sentence of three more months in custody followed by two years of community reintegration, for a total of 27 more months under court supervision.
For Al Marrach’s family, the sentence is disappointing.
“This is not a fair sentencing. This individual should be in custody forever, herself and the other people involved,” said Basima Al Jaji, Al Marrach’s mother, through an Arabic interpreter.
Ahmad Al Marrach is shown in an undated family handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO
She says she hasn’t been able to sleep thinking about what happened to her son.
“I still cannot accept what happened to Ahmad, everything that went on with Ahmad, everything that he went through nobody can endure,” she said.
Al Marrach was a Grade 10 student who arrived in Canada with his family in 2016 after escaping the war in Syria. Police found him badly injured in a parking garage next to the Halifax Shopping Centre on April 22, 2024 and he died later in hospital.
While delivering his decision, Judge Mark Heerema told the courtroom what he witnessed in the mall surveillance footage was a “cruel, callous and cowardly attack.”
Although he said this decision may be seen as “too lenient,” it promises greater prospects of rehabilitation.
And, of course, Canadian Law is all about saving the criminal, and who cares about the victim or their family? Certainly not the judges.
$140K in contraband seized at Mountain Institution in Agassiz
Correctional officers seized a package of $140,000 worth of contraband on Thursday, March 27, at an Agassiz-area prison.
Correctional Service Canada (CSC) announced on Tuesday, April 1, that a package containing – among other things – methamphetamine, shatter (cannabis concentrate), card readers, cell phones, charging cords, SIM cards and tobacco was discovered at Mountain Institution.
The Agassiz RCMP have been notified and are investigating.
The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) uses a number of tools to prevent drugs from entering its institutions," the CSC stated on Monday. "These tools include ion scanners and drug-detector dogs to search buildings, personal property, inmates, and visitors. CSC is heightening measures to prevent contraband from entering its institutions in order to help ensure a safe and secure environment for everyone. CSC also works in partnership with the police to take action against those who attempt to introduce contraband into correctional institutions."
The CSC has set up a tip line to gather information pertaining to security issues – including drug and contraband trafficking – at any federal institution. The toll free number is 1-866-780-3784.
Compare Mountain Institute to this phenomenal super-prison in El Salvador. It's astonishing what a little effort and intelligence can do.
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