Shopkeeper’s killer to serve at least 17 years after getting life sentence

There will be no celebratory champagne for Lloyd Kollie this time around.

Kollie, who along with his accomplices shared bubbly after the murder of Calgary shopkeeper Maqsood Ahmed, was sentenced Thursday to life in prison for his killing.

Justice John McCarthy ordered Kollie, 23, to serve a minimum 17 years before he can seek parole in connection with Ahmed’s Oct. 8, 2014, killing.

McCarthy agreed with Crown prosecutors Richelle Freiheit and Ken McCaffrey that Kollie was a danger to society and deserved an increase in parole ineligibility from the minimum 10 years.

Kollie was convicted by a jury on April 30 of robbery and seconddegree murder for his role in the deadly attack on Ahmed, 55.

McCarthy noted Kollie and Jean Bertrand Havyarimana attacked Ahmed with bear spray to rob him of a bag of cash he was carrying from his northeast shop after hours.

But when Ahmed resisted giving up the bag, containing about $70,000, Kollie repeatedly stabbed him.

“Mr. Kollie prioritized his own financial gain against Mr. Maqsood Ahmed’s right to life,” the Court of Queen’s Bench judge said.

“Shortly thereafter he started to celebrate, showing no remorse and he continues to show no remorse.”

Evidence showed Kollie, Havyarimana and another accomplice Matthew Daniel Forest stayed up all night celebrating after they successfully robbed Ahmed.

They then went to Edmonton “staying in hotels, partying and drinking champagne” to celebrate Kollie’s upcoming birthday, Freiheit noted.

Before sentencing, McCarthy heard victim impact statements from the deceased’s son and widow, which were read in by the prosecutors.

“The stress and grief that I am trying to learn to cope with isn’t one that is going to go away anytime soon, because my husband is never going to come back to me,” wrote Hamida Begum.

She said she was in Pakistan with their daughter to visit her dying brother when the girl rushed her back to the family home.

With the home “overflowing” with neighbours and relatives, she believed her brother had passed away only to be given the devastating news her husband had been slain.

“It was impossible for me to believe that he was gone,” she said.

Son Qamar Maqsood said his father was a great man, although his attackers probably knew little of him. “I have learned to console myself with the thought that the men who partook in the crime were not aware of the type of man my father was, and that maybe, if they knew, they would feel at least some ounce of regret.”

Defence counsel Katherin Beyak had argued a period of parole ineligibility of 10 to 12 years would have been a sufficient punishment, submitting if Kollie was still deemed a danger by then he would not be released.

Shortly thereafter he started to celebrate, showing no remorse and he continues to show no remorse.