‘We won’t let this go’
Friends of slain St. John’s mother vow to fight for justice for her
She was lovely. Beautiful inside and out, her friends say. Thoughtful, intelligent, funny, generous, stylish and very easy to like, with a welcoming nature and never-ending smile that put those around her at ease.
She was devoted. The mother of young children, she cared for them well and made sure they knew they were loved, never missing a parentteacher interview at school or turning down a complicated recipe one of them had seen on Tik Tok and wanted her to try.
She was a dedicated homemaker and was committed to her family and her faith, respecting its traditions and longing, say those closest to her, for the day when she could practice her religion the way she wanted.
She was brave. Her friends say she did everything in her power to provide a safe and happy life for herself and her young family, reaching out in dire situations to people and resources in the community for help, even if it meant putting herself more at risk. On March 5, she was killed. Those who loved her say they are grief-stricken by her loss and angry at a legal system they feel failed her and should have prevented her death, especially since she had expressed a fear she would one day be murdered.
“The only thing keeping me going is knowing how she kept going,” one of her close friends told Saltwire through tears.
Saltwire is adhering to a publication ban protecting the woman’s identity, issued by the provincial court in relation to charges laid against Ibrahim Al Ahmad, 36, in January.
At that time, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary had arrested him for violence against her and others: seven counts of assault with a weapon, four counts of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm, and one count each of assault causing bodily harm by choking, assault, and forcible confinement.
Al Ahmad was released three days later after a bail hearing, with conditions that included an order to have no contact with the woman and several others, and a ban on carrying a concealed knife.
Al Ahmad had also been granted bail in December, after police arrested him for threatening the woman and assaulting her with a weapon.
On March 5, police arrested him again and charged him with kidnapping the woman and murdering her that morning.
The RNC says the woman was last seen alive on Middleton Street in Virginia Park shortly before 8:30 a.m. Officers located her body in an abandoned home on Liam Drive in Logy Bay-middle Cove-outer Cove, about five kilometres away, about an hour and a half later, after receiving a call for service in the area.
Al Ahmad made a brief court appearance Wednesday morning, his fourth since he was charged with first-degree murder but only the first in which he was visible to the court.
Until now, Al Ahmad had attended court by phone from hospital, accompanied by a correctional officer, and had remained silent.
This time he appeared by video from Her Majesty’s Penitentiary with a bandaged wrist, and he spoke up.
Through an Arabic translator, he asked the court for a new lawyer, alleging Mark Gruchy – a lawyer with Legal Aid’s special defence unit and experience in murder cases – is on the “side” of a person connected to the case against him.
Gruchy, who was appearing for Al Ahmad until a permanent lawyer is assigned, suggested there may have been some confusion in the interpretation.
“All I can say is we’ll have a lawyer for Mr. Al Ahmad,” he told the court.
When the accused asked if he could request a specific lawyer, Judge James Walsh told him that he can hire private counsel if he can pay for it, otherwise a Legal Aid lawyer will be appointed to him.
Al Ahmad will return to court April 11.
A funeral service for the slain woman took place in St. John’s March 15, and the next day, the Muslim Association of Newfoundland and Labrador announced it had launched a campaign to create a trust fund for her children. So far, about $14,400 has been raised.
“As the Muslim community of Newfoundland and Labrador gathered to lay her to rest on a cold afternoon with tears and prayers, we made a promise. We will try everything in our means to honour her memory and care for her five children who no longer have any parent to look after them,” the association wrote on its fundraising page, accessible through its website.
“Her tragic death is a painful reminder of where and how our system fails vulnerable women regardless of their ethnic and religious backgrounds.”
It’s a sentiment shared by the woman’s friends and loved ones, who will gather on the steps of Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court in St. John’s Thursday, March 28, at 5 p.m. for a vigil organized by the local branch of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women and Sakeenah Canada, which offers shelter and other supports to Muslim women and children from several locations across the country.
Many of those who loved her have concerns with the way the legal system handled her complaints and Al Ahmad’s repeated releases on bail, and they want answers.
“We won’t let this go,” one of her close friends told Saltwire. “Not when it could just as easily happen to another woman.”
They say they’ll remember her as a person of integrity, strength and kindness with much to live for, including her children, who adored her.
They’ll remember her for her ambition. They say she wanted to learn to drive and return to English classes.
She loved Newfoundland, they say, and she was intent on living her best life at home here.
Days before she died, she took a road trip out of town with friends for the day, visiting a mutual acquaintance’s traditional saltbox house. She took pictures of the scenery, animals and the ocean, texting them happily to family members abroad.
“I thought to myself, she is at home so much,’” her friend says, voice growing tight. “It was such a lovely day. I felt like her world was opening up and she was getting the life she deserved, with the freedom everyone else takes for granted.”