Calgary stomping death caught on video as passersby turn blind eye
Meghan Grant | CBC News | Posted: January 8, 2019 7:27 PM | Last Updated: January 8, 2019
Faud Yasir Ali is on trial for 2nd-degree murder in the 2015 death of Mustafe Hussein
Even at 9 p.m., it was hot outside — 25 C — and the sun continued to light Calgary streets as people walked and drove by a man being stomped to death in July 2015.
The victim had dark skin and looked homeless, one witness testified. He would die a month after the attack.
Somalian-born Mustafe Hussein was in Calgary alone. He had no family here and was living at the Mustard Seed, one of the city's homeless shelters.
Prosecutors Colin Schulhauser and Adam Drew say the victim was hanging out with Faud Yasir Ali, another shelter regular, on July 3, 2015.
Ali's second-degree murder trial began this week. He is accused of beating Hussein to death on 10th Avenue at First Street S.E.
Hussein, 44, remained in a coma in hospital for about a month before he was taken off life support.
'He just stomped on his face'
Shannon Del Nero had been out for dinner with her husband and two of his coworkers. Afterward, they piled in Del Nero's car and headed out for ice cream.
Her cellphone was mounted to the dash of the car recording video as they drove east on 10th Avenue. At one point in the video, Del Nero's friend can be heard yelling out: "He just stomped on his face."
"He's still doing it," she said as the passengers turned around to see what was happening on the sidewalk.
Someone suggested calling police.
Del Nero said she eventually called 911.
When asked Tuesday to describe what she had witnessed, Del Nero told Schulhauser the victim was on the ground, not moving.
"And I saw another man forcefully stomping on him around the head area," she testified.
"[I felt] fear for the person on the ground, it was so violent and so forceful."
Michael Turner, who also witnessed the violence, testified he believed someone was stomping on a garbage bag before he realized it was a person wearing a backpack.
"It looked like he had his whole life in that backpack," said Turner.
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