Man fatally stabbed during mailbox break-in, court hears

A city man was fatally stabbed during a dispute in which he tried to break into the mail box of his assailant at a southwest apartment complex two years ago, court heard during sentencing arguments on Thursday.

Crown prosecutor Lloyd Robertson said Ahmed Mohammad Mahmud arrived at the building in the 1500 block of 21st Ave. S.W. on Aug. 27, 2010, and wanted to retrieve some mail belonging to a friend, Ahmad Dear, so he rang the doorbell of the accused.

When [The Accused], 32, realized it was not Dear as he expected, he refused to let him open the mail box. Mahmud, 26, took a knife from the kitchen in the accused’s third-floor suite and went down to the main level pry it open.

“The deceased did not use the knife he possessed for any purpose other than trying to open the mailbox,” Robertson said, reading an agreed statement of facts.

[The Accused] grabbed a black-handled chef knife with an 18-centimetre-long blade and followed Mahmud down.

A verbal argument and physical fight ensued, with both men yelling in English and Somali, and [The Accused] stabbed the victim once in the chest, penetrating the heart.

Mohamed had been scheduled to go on trial this week for second-degree murder, but on Tuesday pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Robertson and co-Crown Kyra Kondro argued on Thursday for a federal prison sentence of six to eight years. Defence lawyers Greg Dunn and Tyson Dahlem sought a sentence of four to six years.

[The Accused] apologized in court to the victim’s family, saying “I wish I could change the course that happened. It happened by mistake. I apologize for it.”

Fadamo Yusuf, the victim’s mother, was in court and submitted a victim impact statement outlining her tragic loss but will have to return to the Minneapolis, Minn., area before sentencing by Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Suzanne Bensler on Nov. 26.