The Law Courts building, which is home to B.C. Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, is seen in Vancouver, on Thursday, Nov. 23, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
VANCOUVER – The brother of the 13-year-old Burnaby, B.C., girl killed by Ibrahim Ali told the man’s sentencing hearing that his mother was “utterly destroyed” by the grief of losing her daughter.
The man, who can’t be identified because of a publication ban on the victim’s name, carried a photo of her to the witness box and says he was speaking on behalf of his sister who was raped and killed, then “maligned” during the murder trial.
A jury found Ali guilty of first-degree murder in December in a trial where his lawyers suggested the presence of Ali’s DNA inside her could have been because of consensual sex.
The victim’s brother says his sister was the world to his mother and since the July 2017 murder, she has completely “withdrawn from herself.”
The man says in an impact statement the murder changed his sense of safety and community and he’s considered not having children because it’s hard to imagine bringing them into a world “when there are very real monsters out there who would hurt them.”
Ali, who is attending the hearing via video link, is listening through an interpreter, something he refused to do yesterday after repeatedly telling the court that he didn’t kill the girl.
His conviction means a mandatory life sentence of 25 years in prison before he’s eligible for parole.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 7, 2024.
