No progress in case of shooting death
By Delon Shurtz on July 15, 2021.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com The lawyer for a 31-year-old suspect charged in the shooting death of a Lethbridge man more than a year ago, has been unable to make any progress on the case while his client is in custody in Regina, Sask.The matter for Mohamud Omar Dhiblawe was in Lethbridge provincial court Wednesday, where the judge was told defence has attempted several times to arrange for Dhiblawe to sign a designation of counsel form while he is in remand at the Regina Correctional Centre. So far, however, attempts by Calgary lawyer Akram Attia to get the form in the accused’s hands have failed, and the lawyer suggested he may need to arrange for an agent to attend the correctional centre in person.
Attia wants to schedule a preliminary inquiry, but the failed attempts to have Dhiblawe sign the DOC form have resulted in repeated adjournments. A signed DOC is required in order for a lawyer to act on behalf of an accused without the accused having to attend court.
Defence hopes to have the form signed by the time the matter returns to court early next month.
Dhiblawe is charged with one count of second-degree murder, stemming from a shooting Feb. 6, 2020. Just after 10:30 p.m. police responded to a report of a shooting at a residence in the 200 block of University Drive West. Officers found the body of a 35-year-old man inside the home, and it was transported to the Calgary medical examiner’s office for an autopsy. The identity of the victim has not been released.
Police said Dhiblawe and the victim knew each other, and following a verbal dispute over drugs, the man was shot.
The suspect fled before police arrived, but Dhiblawe was arrested March 6, 2020 during an unrelated drug bust at a residence in Regina, Sask.
Dhiblawe, who is from Toronto, was temporarily brought back to Alberta shortly after he was arrested, but has since been remanded in Regina.
He is also charged in connection with a murder in Edmonton on Feb. 8 of last year. Mihamed Ahmed Makaran, 32, was shot and killed in an apartment suite on McConachie Boulevard. Follow @DShurtzHerald on Twitter 4
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