Burnaby Now September 12 2018

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JUSTICE FOR MARRISA

Murder charge finally laid

But police and refugee advocates urge calm after a Syrian national is named ! Story by Cornelia Naylor

R

efugee organizations and members of the Syrian community are expressing concern about a backlash after police revealed the man charged in the killing of Marrisa Shen in Burnaby came to Canada as a Syrian refugee. Fourteen months after the 13-year-old Burnaby girl was found dead in Central Park, the RCMP’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team announced Monday second-de gree murder charges had been laid against 28-year-old Ibrahim Ali. Police said Ali had been living in Burnaby at the time of Shen’s killing but had come from Syria as a refugee about three months earlier. Superintendent Donna Richardson with the RCMP’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said she hoped that information wouldn’t result in a backlash against all refugees. “Historically, we have seen that happen,” she said. “I’m hoping that in this case we do not see that happen. I think, by and large, our refugees that come to the country are hard-working citizens that are happy to be in Canada, and I would just hope that we look at this incident for what it is: it’s a one-off situation.” The Immigrant Services Society of B.C. issued a similar statement Monday following several requests for comment from media outlets, including the NOW. “This was a horrific case and we share the public’s and the victim’s family’s deWe wish to sire for justice for Marrisa,” caution the the statement reads in part. public against “At the same time, we wish stigmatizing an to caution the public against stigmatizing an entire ethnic entire ethnic community for the alleged criminal act of one individual community. from that community.” Ali, who is now a permanent resident of Canada, came to the attention of investigators about two weeks ago, according to police, after one of the longest and most resource-intensive investigations in the unit’s history. More than 1,300 residents were canvassed, 600 interviews conducted and 1,000 hours of video from 60 different locations reviewed as part of the investigation, Richardson said. More than 2,000 persons of interest were identified and later eliminated as possible suspects in the last 14 months, according to IHIT. Ali was arrested without incident in Burnaby Friday. He was not known to police, according to Richardson, and has no criminal record in Canada. Ali and Shen were not known to each other, Richardson said, and investigators continue to maintain the killing was

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EXHAUSTIVE INVESTIGATION: Superintendent Donna Richardson (right) of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team speaks with the media on Monday as Burnaby RCMP Chief Supt. Deanne Burleigh listens. PHOTO CORNELIA NAYLOR random. Richardson would not say how Ali came to the attention of police. Shen was last seen at 7:38 p.m. on July 18, 2017 on the south side of Central Boulevard crossing McKay Avenue walking west. She was reported missing four hours later, and her body was found in the early morning hours of the following day after Burnaby Mounties used GPS to track her cell phone. Just over a week later, IHIT announced investigators believed Shen’s death was the result of a random attack. In a prepared statement read out by IHIT Monday, the teen’s family thanked the public, the media and police and said they hoped Ali’s arrest would lead to closure. “We hope that justice will now be served and that Marrisa can finally be at peace in heaven,” read the statement.

Innocent victim: Marrisa Shen. PHOTO NOW FILES

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