Ontario’s top court overturns Mohamad Al-Kassem’s conviction for criminal negligence causing death after striking his arch-rival Ronald Persaud with his SUV.
MISSISSAUGA – In a rare and stunning turn of events, Ontario’s top court has overturned the conviction of a Mississauga man who was found guilty of criminal negligence causing death for striking and killing an arch-rival with his SUV outside a City Centre apartment, reported Mississauga News.
The Ontario Court of Appeal ruling means Mohamad Al-Kassem, 30, has been acquitted of the criminal negligence charge, which a jury convicted him of back in 2013.
Family and friends of Ronald Persaud, the City Centre man who was struck and killed by Al-Kassem’s SUV that fateful night in 2009, are infuriated at the decision, with the dead man’s good friend, Derek Cadogan-Mayers, calling Friday’s ruling “another major slap in the face.”
Al-Kassem was sentenced to two years less a day, but didn’t serve the sentence as he was out on bail pending appeal.
A jury found Al-Kassem guilty of criminal negligence causing death, but acquitted him of manslaughter and dangerous driving causing death in the gruesome encounter back on Dec. 16, 2009. He and his lawyer argued on appeal that the conviction was “necessarily inconsistent” with the jury’s verdict acquitting him of dangerous driving causing death for the same conduct.
The Court of Appeal agreed.
“There is no logical basis in this case upon which the jury could have found that both elements were present for the count of criminal negligence, but that one of those elements, a marked departure, was not proven for dangerous driving,” the three-member panel said.
Instead of ordering a new trial, the appeal judges took the unusual step of acquitting Al-Kassem of criminal negligence causing death.
“To order a new trial on the criminal negligence count would necessarily invite another inconsistent verdict,” the appeal judges stated. “For this reason . . . an acquittal on the criminal negligence count is the appropriate remedy.”
While Ontario’s top court regularly sets aside convictions and orders new trials, it’s rare that the court enters an acquittal.
Al-Kassem also appealed his conviction of failing to remain at the scene of a crash, arguing the trial judges’ instruction to the jury restricted them from considering the possibility that he fled the scene because he was afraid for his life. The appeal judges set aside the conviction and ordered a new trial.
Al-Kassem maintained from day one he was acting in self defence and was fearful for his life the night Persaud was killed.
It was the Crown’s case that Al-Kassem ran over Persaud with his SUV because he wouldn’t stop talking to his girlfriend. Al-Kassem used his SUV as a weapon after Persaud, an Applewood Heights Secondary School graduate, challenged him to a “man-to-man” fight, the Crown argued.
The incident was also caught on a surveillance camera outside the Webb Drive building. The gruesome DVD was shown to the jury during the two-week trial.
Persaud died in hospital eight hours after being struck. Al-Kassem fled the scene, court heard earlier, and was later arrested in Cooksville.
The day of the fatal encounter, jurors heard earlier, Persaud approached Al-Kassem near the accused’s SUV. Witness testimony and surveillance footage showed that it appears the two shake hands and make amends, Crown attorney John Patton said.
But later, Persaud removes his jacket and approaches the SUV as Al-Kassem reaches for a tire iron, Patton said.
The two struggled over the tire iron. Moments later, Persaud was run down.
Peel Regional Police officers stood guard in the courtroom during the trial, as tensions between both families ran high during court proceedings.
Sandra Persaud told court she held her son’s hands as he was taking his final breaths in hospital.
“He died with me holding his hands and my hands were covered with his blood,” the grieving woman told court last month, fighting back tears before finally breaking down. “I’m alive, but so dead inside. How can I live my life without him?”
