Father of slain Saskatoon man says killer's life sentence will never be good enough
Mohammed Omar's father says a life sentence for his son's killer isn't good enough, because it won't bring his son back.
"My son is gone. This guy is still alive. It doesn't make no change for me," Omar's father, Khattab Karim told reporters outside of court today.
Walid Adam Mohamed admitted to stabbing Mohammed Omar repeatedly, ultimately leaving him for dead on the floor of a Sutherland convenience store.
Mohamed pleaded guilty today to second degree murder and was sentence to life in prison.
But for Karim and other family members who travelled from Winnipeg, no sentence will do.
"He get one day at the jail or a 100 years, it doesn't matter for me because my son he doesn't get back," he said.
Omar had moved to Saskatoon from Winnipeg shortly before his death. He'd found work helping a young autistic boy.
He was described by many as a young leader in his immigrant community.
His family had moved here from Iraq when he was a boy, fleeing violence there. They never imagined his life would end in violence in Canada, a place they considered a peaceful country.
Court heard how Mohamed and Omar had met up at a mosque on the night of the killing.
Mohamed had been offered a ride by Omar; it was during the drive that passenger Mohamed stabbed Omar, who was behind the wheel.
Omar exited the vehicle and ran into a convenience store with Mohamed following behind him where the attack continued. Omar had several wounds and had been stabbed 15 times, including five times in his neck.
The Crown prosecutor described Omar as being "completely vulnerable" at the time of the attack, not fighting back. Although Mohamed has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, it did not factor into the attack.
He was well aware of his actions, the Crown prosecutor Matt Miazga. He said two different experts, a psychiatrist and psychologist, assessed Mohamed shortly after the killing.
They said while he did suffer from schizophrenia and was having delusions about his sister being sexually assaulted, he did know what he doing when he stabbed Omar. He also knew it was wrong.
"Both came to the conclusion that while he did have schizophrenia...he did understand and appreciate quality and nature of his act and he knew full well that what he did was wrong," Miazga said.
Mohamed did apologize to Omar's family in court.
"I hope you will forgive me. I can't forgive myself," he told the court.
