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A man convicted of the first-degree murder of a 13-year-old girl wants to appear at his sentencing hearing by video out of fear for his safety, his lawyer said at a hearing in the British Columbia Supreme Court on Tuesday.
Kevin McCollough said Ibrahim Ali’s attendance in person would raise “real security concerns” and the defense is prepared to file additional affidavits to support its position.
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Ali’s defense previously told the court that police informed them that the victim’s father brought a gun to court on the day of the guilty verdict last December.
While no charges were laid, the girl’s father was handed a five-year weapons ban in a Surrey court this month after two licensed weapons were seized from his home.
McCullough said at Tuesday’s hearing that if Ali is forced to attend the upcoming sentencing in person, he will do so remotely.
“If Mr. Ali is going to be present, I’m certainly not going to get caught in the gunfire,” he said. “I will not be present. “There are material security problems.”
McCullough told Judge Lance Bernard that he “cannot believe” the Crown’s position that Ali must attend in person, given what happened.
“This is not a safe environment for me,” he said of the Vancouver court.
The judge told the defense attorney to stop talking, saying the court would take up the matter of Ali’s appearance at a later date.
The body of the girl, whose name is protected by a publication ban, was found in Burnaby’s Central Park in July 2017 and Ali was arrested the following year.
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It took a jury less than 24 hours to reach its guilty verdict at the end of the eight-month trial last December.
Ali faces a mandatory life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.
McCullough said Tuesday that Ali “is convinced he is innocent.”
“He is convinced he did not kill (the victim), and I expect he would say so repeatedly in a public courtroom if he were forced to come.”
Prosecutor Isobel Keeley said the Crown objects to Ali attending his sentencing remotely, and the Criminal Code says such an appearance must be in person unless the defense and Crown agree on an alternative with court approval.
He said members of the slain girl’s family will travel from China to attend and he expects them to deliver three separate victim impact statements.
One of them will be a video of the victim’s father reading his statement in Mandarin, with a copy translated to read aloud in English, Keeley said.
Another hearing is scheduled for Friday to confirm the sentencing dates.
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