Acquittal in ‘Good Samaritan’ slaying
Dale King fired the shot that killed Yosif Al-Hasnawi, but is not guilty of second-degree murder, a Hamilton jury has decided. They found King acted in self-defence.
Al-Hasnawi wasn’t armed, but in the seconds before King pulled the trigger on his .22-calibre handgun, King said he believed his then-best friend James Matheson was about to be stabbed. Al-Hasnawi, a 19-year-old Brock University student with his family at a Main Street East mosque, was chasing the pair after he was punched in the head during a confrontation.
Just minutes shy of 24 hours after beginning deliberations, the six-man, six-woman jury announced the not guilty verdict before a packed Hamilton courtroom.
The jury had three choices — not guilty, manslaughter or second-degree murder.
When the jury foreman said “not guilty,” King put his hands to his face and cried.
“I think Dale feels very relieved,” defence attorney Jonathan Shime said outside court. “It has been a long couple of years for him. He’s relieved that the jury listened.”
When Amal Alzurufi, Al-Hasnawi’s mom, heard the verdict she sat in silence, staring ahead. She attended court every day during the trial, listening to the agonizing details of her oldest child’s final moments.
“She’s quite upset,” said Det. Sgt. Steve Bereziuk of the Hamilton police major crime unit. She was too devastated to speak after the decision.
Bereziuk said he was disappointed in the verdict, but noted that the “citizens of Hamilton have spoken.”
“With jury trials, we really don’t ever know how its going to go. We try to present the best case possible ... when it gets in court in front of a jury it’s into their hands not ours.” Al-Hasnawi was called a “Good Samaritan” by police after the shooting because he was trying to help a man on the street that night whom Matheson was mocking.