‘He is going to kill me’
Woman pleaded for help months before she was killed; her loved ones want a public inquiry
Part 2 of a series
Late one afternoon last December, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary received an emergency call. It was difficult for the dispatcher on the end of the phone line to understand exactly what was going on, but one thing was reportedly clear.
“He is going to kill me,” the caller stated.
The caller, a mother of five, wanted police immediately, and they went to her St. John’s home. The information she and others provided them led the RNC to charge Ibrahim Al Ahmad that evening with assaulting her with a weapon and threatening her life.
Police took Al Ahmad into custody and he spent the night in the lockup before he was released the next day on bail with a list of conditions. Among them: that he have no communication with the woman and several other people; that he stay away from the street where she lived; and that he not carry a hidden knife.
The incident sparked a deeper RNC investigation and just over a month later, Al Ahmad, 36, was back in custody with 12 additional charges: four counts of assault, three counts each of assault with a weapon and uttering threats, and one count each of forcible confinement and choking. Police allege Al Ahmad committed these offences before the ones for which he was previously charged, over a 12-year time span.
Al Ahmad’s release on bail wasn’t as swift this time, and the Crown strongly opposed it. Prosecutor Robin Singleton read aloud the details of the allegations — which Saltwire is not publishing to protect the integrity of the evidence for trial and to adhere to a publication ban implemented by the court at that time on the identities of the woman and her children — and asked the court to keep Al Ahmad behind bars while his case made its way through the court.
He should be denied bail because of the risk he poses to the woman and others, Singleton argued.
“Also,” she told Provincial Court Judge Harold Porter, “I think the public would lose confidence in our justice system if Mr. Al Ahmad were released on this (bail) plan.”
The crimes, she argued, were serious and would see the accused facing a lengthy prison sentence if eventually convicted, and Al Ahmad’s proposed surety, though well-intentioned, was not financially nor mentally stable and had an impaired driving charge on his record.
The judge found Al Ahmad met the criteria for bail, and explained how he had come to that conclusion. In Canadian criminal law, there are only three reasons to deny an accused bail, Porter said. Firstly, the court must assess whether they’re at risk of not showing up for future court dates. Secondly, the court must determine whether the accused is at risk of committing more crimes. The judge said he had no evidence to suggest Al Ahmad didn’t meet those criteria.
“In terms of the third reason to deny bail, the test is whether the public would be alarmed by the release of the accused,” he explained. “I believe that the public would accept the accused being released on strict bail conditions.”
Those conditions included a promise from Al Ahmad and his surety to each pay $500 and orders for Al Ahmad to live with the surety, not leave the province and only change his address with advance notification to the court; have no contact with the complainant and several others or to visit their homes, schools or places of work; not carry a concealed knife; and not drink alcohol.
“Do you have any questions about your bail conditions?” the judge asked Al Ahmad, through an Arabic interpreter.
“No, but can he say something?” the interpreter said in response, translating for Al Ahmad.
“It’s probably not a good idea to say something today,” the judge replied, advising Al Ahmad to speak with his lawyer instead.
The complainant’s friends say she was packing her things, preparing to move somewhere in hiding, before Al Ahmad was even out of jail that day.
On March 6, Al Ahmad was back in custody, after RNC officers were called to an abandoned home in Logy Bay-middle Cove-outer Cove a day earlier and found the woman dead.
In the courtroom, Porter read the new charges — kidnapping, first-degree murder and two breaches of bail conditions, namely the nocontact order and the ban on carrying a knife — to Al Ahmad over the phone in hospital, where he was recovering from injuries, accompanied by a correctional officer.
Since then, Al Ahmad has made four court appearances, most recently by video from Her Majesty’s Penitentiary, appearing on screen with a bandaged wrist and taking issue with his temporarily appointed Legal Aid lawyer. He’s set to return to court April 11 for an update.
The woman’s funeral was held in St. John’s two weeks ago — “a cold afternoon with tears and prayers,” said a statement from the province’s Muslim community, which has launched a campaign to raise money for a trust fund for her children.
Tears were shed and prayers were spoken on Thursday evening, March 28, as well, as about 100 of the woman’s loved ones, friends, members of the local Muslim community, advocates and others gathered on the steps of Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court for a vigil in her honour.
With large pictures of her on easels surrounded by candles and flowers, they remembered her as someone of integrity, kindness, beauty and faith, an exceptional mother, loyal to her family, and a lover of her Newfoundland home.
They described her as a woman whose death was preventable, and they called for accountability from all facets of the legal system.
“I didn’t know her personally, no,” one woman told The Telegram after the event.
“I came out of respect for her and I came because I’m angry at a system that failed her miserably and fails other women every day.
“What will it take for people to smarten up? How many women have to die?”
The woman’s loved ones say the government must undertake a public inquiry into her death. Among other things, they are also calling on the courts to implement mandatory gender-based violence training for the judiciary.
“We knew that this was a very real threat,” one of the woman’s closest friends said. “We spent so much time trying to get someone to take it seriously. I could see this coming. Everybody could see this coming. How could this happen?
“She’s irreplaceable. She meant so much to everyone who loved her. The only good thing that could possibly come out of this is if we identify failures in the system so it doesn’t happen again.”