Ibrahim Ali, a well known UN gang associate with a long criminal record, was given four and a half years minus time served and a 10-year driving ban for his role in the death of Emily Sheane. He pleaded guilty in October.
VANCOUVER – A well known South Asian gangster was sentenced Wednesday morning several months after a 25-year-old woman was killed in a hit and run in Burnaby.
Ibrahim Ali, a well known UN gang associate with a long criminal record, was given four and a half years minus time served and a 10-year driving ban for his role in the death of Emily Sheane. He pleaded guilty in October.
Through tears outside the courthouse, Sheane’s mother addressed reporters. “She was a very special girl. We still visit her a lot. I’m glad that we got some justice, but it won’t bring her back.”
Sheane was killed instantly after her older model Toyota Corolla was T-boned by a Range Rover speeding through a red light near the BCIT campus in Burnaby. The driver of the SUV and the passenger took off. She was on her way home after working a shift at Joe Fortes in Downtown Vancouver.
At the time, Burnaby RCMP had said they spoke with witnesses who claimed to have seen a woman exit the passenger side of the car and run away.
Shortly after Ali was arrested at a motel in Creston and charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death and leaving the scene of an accident where a death had taken place.
During sentencing Wednesday, Ali asked the loved ones of his victim Emily Sheane for his forgiveness, and said he would switch places with her if he could.
Mounties said the luxury SUV was speeding at 100 kilometres an hour when it T-boned Sheane’s much smaller car.
Ali and his passenger, an 18-year-old woman, fled the scene. They were arrested several days later in the Interior community of Creston, more than 700 kilometres away.
Creston RCMP arrested the pair after they showed up at a local hotel covered in mud and blood. They claimed to have been involved in a single-vehicle crash.
Both were out on bail at the time of the crash, and warrants were out for their arrests.
Ali pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death and failure to stop at an accident in connection with the March 9 collision.
In court, the 26-year-old read a statement saying he was arguing with his passenger right before the crash, and was looking at her instead of the road.
Ali said he wasn’t sure what he did, who he hit, or even what happened.
The court heard that a panicked Ali went to a motel, but became scared and left the Lower Mainland.
“I wish I had stayed at the scene,” he told the court. “I pray one day all of you can please forgive me.”
Two dozen victim impact statements were submitted to the court by Sheane’s family and friends. The judge presiding over the case said the young woman was “on the brink of every possible opportunity” at the time of her death, and it was clear from the letters that she touched lives and made a difference.
She had just finished a graphic design degree at BCIT.
