Judge rejects bid to bar father of murdered teen from proceedings

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has rejected an application to exclude the father of a murdered 13-year-old girl from listening in remotely to post-trial proceedings.

The girl was found dead in a Metro Vancouver park in 2017, and a jury found Ibrahim Ali guilty of her first-degree murder last December.

Ali's trial lawyers, Kevin McCullough and Ben Lynskey, have been refusing to attend post-trial hearings, citing safety concerns over an allegation the girl's father brought a loaded gun to the Vancouver courtroom on the day of the verdict.

Ali's lawyers had argued the man's presence, even virtually, would be distracting and intimidating to the point it would compromise their ability to defend their client.

But the judge says the victim's father hasn't been charged in the alleged gun incident — although he was arrested and released with orders not to go to the courthouse in person, not to contact Ali or his lawyers, and not to possess any firearms.

Bernard says those conditions — along with the move to a secure courtroom equipped with bulletproof glass — strike the right balance between safety and the father's interest in following the proceedings.

The father has been following the proceedings remotely through a Mandarin-English interpreter, Bernard said. The interpreter listens and simultaneously translates for the man by telephone, he said.

"This form of access does not afford [the man] any role or voice in the proceedings," Bernard said.

McCullough and Lynskey's colleague, Tim Russell, said in a court submission that throughout much of the trial, the defence lawyers had received threats that "escalated until Dec. 8 when [the victim's father] brought a gun into the courtroom."

Brock Martland, who represented the father, had told the court that his client didn't bring a gun to court on Dec. 8, the day of the verdict.

"I'm not asking the court to accept that as fact. That is our position," Martland told the court in proceedings last week. "That matter is before the Vancouver Police Department and we respect and trust their investigation."

The father can't be named because of a publication ban on the identity of his daughter, whose body was found in a park in Burnaby, B.C.

Court documents show the father will appear at Surrey provincial court later this month in relation to the disposal of items police seized from him on Dec. 9.

Later on Friday, the judge sought to set a date for the court to hear arguments over a so-called "Jordan application" by Ali's lawyers, seeking a stay of proceedings on the grounds that there were unreasonable delays in the case. If granted, Ali would go free without being sentenced.

The court heard that a transcription company estimated it would take 12 to 14 weeks to provide documentation that defence and Crown lawyers say they need in order to go ahead with the delay-related application.

Ali has yet to be sentenced in the case. He faces a mandatory life term with no chance of parole for 25 years.