Angered by the shooting death of his friend, Abdullahi Jemal Ahmed donned a ski mask and carried a gun into a south Winnipeg cemetery, where he opened fire on rival gang members.
Ahmed, 27, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Wednesday as he admitted he fired the bullet that killed 21-year-old Hayder “Baby face” Hassan at Thomson in the Park Funeral Home and Cemetery on April 16, 2021.
“The accused pulled out the handgun he had concealed, held it out with an out-stretched arm and began firing repeatedly at the group assembled at the grave site as they attempted to flee and seek shelter between the tombstones,” Crown attorney Libby Standil told court, reading from an agreed statement of facts.
“One of those bullets struck the victim in the chest, perforating his heart.”
The guilty plea signals an end to a years-long legal process bogged down by repeated delays as Ahmed struggled to work with his defence lawyers.
It also marks another conviction in what Standil described as “a rolling conflict brewing between two local gangs (that) exploded into destructive violence.”
Court was told Hassan was part of a group celebrating the birthday of fellow gang member Rig Debak Moulebou, who was fatally shot as he slept in a South Pointe home on Nov. 4, 2019.
Moulebou was killed in retaliation for the slaying of Jamshaid Wahabi, a high-ranking gangster and close friend of Ahmed’s, who had been killed at Citizen Nightclub on Bannatyne Avenue two days earlier, Standil said.
Moulebou died before he could be charged in Wahabi’s death, but was identified as the killer during a jury trial in December 2021 when three men were found guilty of killing Moulebou.
At the time of that shooting, Ahmed was in custody for the slaying of Hassan. He was set to stand trial for the cemetery killing in March 2024, but the process was delayed when his defence lawyer told King’s Bench Justice Gerald Chartier she could no longer represent him due to “a fundamental erosion in the trust that needs to exist in the solicitor-client relationship.”
Chartier expressed frustration, noting it was the second time the trial had been delayed. In 2023, Ahmed fired his lawyers at the end of a pre-trial hearing.
On Wednesday, Ahmed was represented by lawyer Jill Duncan, who was acting as a friend of the court.
Dressed in a navy blue suit with brown leather dress shoes, Ahmed stood before Chartier and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
An interpreter was present to help Ahmed, a refugee from Somalia, understand and deliver the plea.
“I was there, somehow, and bullets started flying,” he said.
Members of his family sat quietly in court. At one point, Ahmed turned toward them, raised his hands to his chest and said, “I love you, mom.”
The Crown and defence made a joint recommendation of a life sentence without the possibility of parole for 16 years. The minimum sentence for second-degree murder is life without parole for 10 years.
The judge will deliver his decision Jan. 29. Ahmed could be deported upon release from prison.
tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca
Tyler Searle
Reporter
Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press‘s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.
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