Burnaby teenager's killer appeals, alleges 45 errors by trial judge

Memorial for 13-year-old girl at her murder scene in Central Park in Burnaby on Sept. 10, 2018. Photo by Nick Procaylo /PNG

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A lawyer has launched an appeal of Ibrahim Ali’s first-degree murder conviction in the rape and killing of a 13-year-old Burnaby girl, alleging 45 errors by the trial judge.

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The appeal, coming after one of B.C.’s longest murder trials, is so complex that the lawyer has  been granted the right to file reasons in a document three times longer than normally allowed in B.C. Appeal Court.

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The court’s ruling called any extension beyond 30 pages for the factum “exceptional” and only “granted sparingly” and said its immediate response was to call lawyer Timothy Russell’s request for 150 pages “disappointing.”

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But after receiving a 148-page draft and acknowledging the complexity of the case, “and the arguments that are to be advanced,” Justice Paul Riley granted an extension.

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“I am satisfied, given the length of the trial proceedings, and the size or volume of the record on appeal, that leave to file a factum more than the 30-page limit should be granted,” he wrote.

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But he limited the factum to 90 pages, suggesting the draft could be condensed.

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Ali was convicted of the 2017 killing of the 13-year-old girl in 2023 after an eight-month trial that had been scheduled for three months. He was sentenced in June 2024 to life in prison without chance of parole for 25 years.

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The jury took less than 24 hours to reach its verdict at the end of the trial that had been adjourned multiple times for various reasons, including Ali’s mental and physical health, the death of an expert witness, COVID-19 and other illnesses among the jurors, and threats of violence against Ali’s lawyers.

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Almost two years after Ali was sentenced, Russell launched the appeal, alleging B.C. Supreme Court Justice Lance Bernard made 45 errors in nine generalized grounds of appeal. That had been pared down from 25 generalized grounds of appeal, according to the ruling.

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Riley also said Russell had summarized the length and complexity of the trial by listing the 400 total court days, 29 voir dire hearingss, 246 exhibits, 79 rulings totalling 980 pages, and 19,875 pages of transcripts.

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But regarding the decisions, Riley said “one might question their bearing on the result” of the verdict, including those related to publication bans.

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There was a mandatory publication ban issued on the girl’s name and any information that could identify her, and another on any “information regarding the circumstances of the death of trial witness Tracy Pickett.”

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Pickett, an expert witness for the prosecution, didn’t show up to finish her cross-examination by a defence lawyer, and the judge later told them it was because she had died. He told them to disregard her testimony and not to speculate about her death.