Ibrahim Ali, the Syrian refugee and permanent resident charged in the first degree murder of 13-year old Marrisa Shen returned to court on Monday April 15th.
Shen, who went missing in Burnaby, British Columbia on July 28th, 2017, was found murdered several hours later.
Since the beginning of his trial, protestors have gathered outside of the Vancouver Provincial Court to protest the Liberal government’s handling of refugees and asylum seekers.
“These girls, it doesn’t matter [if they’re] from China or from anywhere else, soon after they come to Canada, they are Canadian, they want to peacefully live in Canada without being murdered, I think Trudeau is responsible for that when he brings refugees here,” said one protestor holding a “Punish Murderer(s)” sign.
Protestors assembled a memorial and a display directly in front of the Provincial Court of British Columbia where visitors could sign their name on the “We want justice for Marrisa Shen” banner. Other protestors held signs that read “Hold Trudeau accountable”, “No bail! No more victims!” and “CBC, report the truth!”
Most of the people present at the protest were members from Vancouver’s Chinese community who claim that they have been affected by the girl’s horrible death.
“I still trust [the] Canadian system, I hope the murderer could be punished, but punishing the murderer is not our purpose. Our purpose is to want all criminals to be published and for all of the people who come to Canada to follow Canadian law. Nobody is special, all people are equal,” said the protestor.
The case was delayed for another month at the request of Ali’s defence, Veen Aldosky, who asked for further time to review the Crown’s evidence disclosure.
