Jury rejects claim a delusional Al Aalak strangled his father
Calgary man faces life sentence following second-degree murder conviction
Calgarian Zaineddin Al Aalak wasn't suffering a delusional breakdown when he strangled his father and dismembered the body, a jury ruled Wednesday.
The three-woman and nine-man jury deliberated about six hours over two days before finding Al Aalak guilty of second-degree murder and causing an indignity to a body in connection with the killing of his father, Mohamed Al Aalak.
Jurors had been asked to find the accused not criminally responsible by reason of a mental disorder after hearing evidence from a defence psychiatrist that Al Aalak was suffering a psychotic episode at the time.
Dr. Sergio Santana said Al Aalak was experiencing delusions when he killed his father at the accused's southeast Calgary townhouse.
Al Aalak, 24, testified he was receiving telepathic messages from God in the early morning hours of July 15, 2017, telling him the person inside his home was an imposter there to kill him.
He struck his father in the head twice with a hammer and repeatedly punched him, knocking him unconscious.
He then manually strangled his father.
The following day he went to the victim's Calgary home, retrieved a circular saw and returned to the crime scene, where he cut his father's body into eight pieces.
The remains, minus Mohamed Al Aalak's right hand, which his son said he tossed in a trash bin, were discovered when a construction worker came across the dead man's decapitated head at an Okotoks construction site on July 17, 2017.
Jurors accepted the evidence from a Crown psychiatrist who suggested Al Aalak was fabricating his claims of hearing voices.
Dr. Yuri Metelitsa said Al Aalak was “malingering” and noted he displayed no behaviour to suggest he was experiencing auditory hallucinations in the days, weeks and months after the killing.
Metelitsa, who assessed the admitted killer two years after his arrest, said none of the police officers who dealt with him after his detention, or guards, inmates and nurses at the Calgary Remand Centre, reported any behaviour that indicated Al Aalak was responding to imaginary stimuli.
Al Aalak will face an automatic life sentence when Justice David Labrenz hands down his punishment, likely in the new year.
The Court of Queen's Bench judge must also hear submissions from Crown prosecutor Carla Macphail and defence lawyer Alain Hepner on the number of years Al Aalak must serve before he can apply for full parole.