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A Windsor man convicted of first-degree murder in the vicious 2004 killing of a local cabbie and father of three is seeking a jury’s approval to apply for earlier parole.
Ali Al-Shammari, 38, has spent half his life behind bars since the stabbing death and near decapitation of Thualfikar Alattiya, 41, in the rear seat of his Vets Cab on Nov. 19, 2004, during a work shift.
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Al-Shammari, 19 at the time of the killing, was convicted in 2007 of first-degree murder, with an automatic 25-year period of parole ineligibility.
But under rarely used Canadian legislation known as the “faint hope clause,” a 14-member Windsor jury is now hearing an appeal by Al-Shammari for earlier release. It’s not up to these jurors to determine whether or not the Windsor man gets out sooner — they must simply decide whether he can appear before the Parole Board of Canada to make that case.
“The Crown is opposed to this,” assistant Crown attorney George Spartinos said Tuesday at the opening of the hearing before Superior Court Justice Renee Pomerance.
To set the stage for jurors, Spartinos divulged some of the grisly details of the case.
According to an agreed statement of facts, Al-Shammari wasn’t the culprit who slashed the cabbie’s neck but was rather in on a plan to beat him up over a dispute involving the funding of a new mosque. Three assailants, including two brothers ages 17 and 19, all wore masks and gloves but panicked when the cabbie recognized them “and told them their parents would not approve,” according to the statement read out by Spartinos.
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The teen brothers then asked Al-Shammari what they should do, and he said “kill him,” while handing a knife to the older brother, Mohamed Al Ghazzi, who was 19 at the time. The three ended the day with a trip to the mall.
Both Al Ghazzi and his brother, a young offender at the time, were originally charged with first-degree murder. Both pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and were sentenced to life with parole ineligibility of 10 years.
The boys’ father, Daham Al Ghazzi — who had encouraged his sons to beat up Alattiya — was charged with first-degree murder but pled guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
The normal date when Al-Shammari would first become eligible to seek parole is Nov. 23, 2029 (in murder cases, the sentence starts at the time of arrest, not the date of conviction).
Al-Shammari’s lawyer Christopher Hicks told the jury the defence anticipates calling 18 witnesses to prove that his client has made “exemplary progress” while in custody, that he has matured and rehabilitated himself, and has family support, is “goal-oriented and focused now on the future.”
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Al-Shammari himself will testify, along with his parents, correctional service officers, parole officers and others. Four weeks have been scheduled for the hearing.
“Some of these (defence witnesses) will have nothing exceptional to say, but that is really good,” said Hicks, adding that, when it comes to prison, “faint praise is great praise.”
Spartinos said the Crown’s case opposed to early parole consideration will include jurors hearing from the children of the victim, who was a married father of three young children.
Alattiya was helping Daham Al Ghazzi collect funds for a new mosque but tried to back away when he discovered it was being registered in Al Ghazzi’s name and not the general Muslim community. He was killed a short time later.
Anyone convicted after December 2011 is no longer eligible to apply under Section 745.6 of the Canadian Criminal Code — known as the “faint hope clause” — which was designed to allow some offenders serving life sentences to seek a jury’s approval to seek earlier parole.
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“This is not a typical jury hearing,” Pomerance told jurors on Tuesday.
Twenty years after his arrest, Al-Shammari is currently serving his time at the minimum security Beaver Creek Institution in Gravenhurst, Ont.
After “self-reflection and growth,” Hicks said his client has “rejected his previous thinking … (and) matured tremendously” since he was a 19-year-old.
“We’re not saying to you, ‘Oh, c’mon, give him a break.’ We’re saying — he’s earned this,” Hicks said in the defence’s opening address to the jury.
“Faint hope … is based on the innate ability of people to reform themselves,” he said.
Even if Al-Shammari convinces this Windsor jury, it would remain up to a parole board panel to determine whether he subsequently gets a break.
And even with freedom — convicted murderers remain on parole for life.
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