Gas-station worker’s killer apologizes, gets 11 years
CALGARY — A man who ran over and killed a gas-station worker trying to stop him from stealing fuel has been sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Joshua Cody Mitchell, 22, was convicted by a jury this year of manslaughter, hit and run and theft.
“There was no intent to kill here,” Justice Alan Macleod said in his sentencing decision Wednesday. “There was no intent to seriously injure, but the risks were patently obvious.”
Macleod also handed Mitchell a lifetime driving ban.
Maryam Rashidi, 35, died two years ago when Mitchell ran over her as he took off without paying for $113 of fuel.
Rashidi and her husband had come to Canada from Iran in 2014 because she wanted a better life for their son. She had worked at the Centex gas station for just two weeks after being laid off from her engineering job during Calgary’s economic downturn.
Mitchell’s sentence consists of 10 years for manslaughter and an additional year for hit and run. The judge gave him about 3 12⁄ years of credit for time served.
“I’d like to apologize to the family and friends of Ms. Rashidi for the … pain and suffering I have caused their family,” Mitchell said in a statement to the court before he was sentenced.
Mohamad Rashidi, the victim’s brother, and her mother, Kobra Mohammadi, flew to Calgary from Iran to attend Mitchell’s sentencing hearing.
Mohamad Rashidi said he is haunted by thoughts of his sister’s final moments, when she was lying on the ground “like a rag doll.”
Maryam Rashidi’s husband, Ahmad Nourani Shallo, was killed in a traffic accident in June.
They had one son, who survived the crash that killed his father.