Youth found guilty of 2nd-degree murder in death of Montreal teen Jannai Dopwell-Bailey

A jury has found a teenager guilty of second-degree murder in connection with the fatal stabbing of 16-year-old Jannai Dopwell-Bailey outside a high school in Montreal's Côte-des-Neiges district two years ago.

Jannai was a student at Mile End high school, an alternative school in the basement of Coronation School in Montreal's west end, where he was stabbed to death in the afternoon of Oct. 18, 2021.

The identity of the accused is protected by a publication ban because he was a minor when he stabbed Jannai. Crown prosecutor Simon Robin told reporters he will be asking Judge Annie Émond to sentence the teen as an adult.

Charla Dopwell, Jannai's mother, who didn't expect a verdict to come today, watched by video-conference with her other children, as it was delivered by the jury Tuesday morning at the Court of Quebec's Youth Division on Bellechasse Street in Montreal. 

"It was a big relief. I was relieved. I was nervous. I was very emotional. It was very emotional for me," Dopwell said, sitting in her daughter's living room, where photos of Jannai and his siblings adorn the walls. 

"It will give me a level of closure and moving on, but my son is in my heart forever, forever and ever. He is with me 24/7. He's always with me," she said.

"I'm happy for him. Jannai, I'm happy for you. I'm happy that [the accused] was found guilty because you didn't deserve that. My son did not deserve to be brutally murdered like that."

Dopwell said she hopes the judge will accept the prosecutor's request to have the teen, who is now 18, sentenced as an adult. 

Jury deliberated for days

The minimum adult sentence for second-degree murder in Canada is a life sentence, with possibility for parole after 10 years. The maximum youth sentence for second-degree murder is a seven-year sentence, no more than four years of which can be spent in custody. 

"We believe this verdict is a fair verdict given the evidence that was presented," Robin, the prosecutor, said. "We are happy for the family of the victim and we hope they will find some peace in their grief."

Robin said the evidence presented at the trial included surveillance footage, eyewitness testimony and the conduct of the accused after Jannai's death.

In an interview after the verdict, defence lawyer Tiago Múrias said he would be contesting the Crown's push for an adult sentence, but that he and his client so far accept the jury's verdict. 

"Obviously, it was not the result we were expecting, but we deeply respect the jury's work. They worked very hard. They took the time to go through the evidence," Múrias said. 

The jury had been deliberating since Saturday morning. 

Múrias said it was too soon to say whether he and his client would be appealing the verdict or not. 

"We'll give him time to settle down. Christmas is also around the corner," he said.

During the trial, Robin told the jury the accused had recently been suspended from Mile End high school, but returned there the day of the fatal stabbing.

The jury saw a video of an altercation leading to Jannai's death, but that footage did not show the actual stabbing. The Crown said the defendant chased Jannai, pushed him up a against a wall and stabbed him.

He also presented an Instagram video, posted just an hour after the stabbing, showing the accused celebrating with a knife in his hand and mocking Jannai.

'I wouldn't wish it on anyone'

A second man, who was 18 at the time of his arrest, has also been charged in the case, but his trial is still pending. There is a publication ban on his name and the details of his participation in the incident.

Dopwell, Jannai's mother, said she would be "100 per cent" following that trial when it takes place. 

She says Jannai's siblings miss him deeply. 

"My daughter is suffering. She misses him a lot. It's sad. It's very hard. I miss him a lot. No parent should go through what I have been through. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. It's too painful," said Dopwell, who learned of her son's death that day in October, when police found her on the bus on her way home from work as a patient attendant at a seniors' home in Côte-Saint-Luc. 

"When you love your children and you bring them into the world… You send your son to school for a certain amount of years and you send him to school that morning and in the evening, no return. No coming back."