Co-accused in 2021 drive-by killings to walk free because of trial delay
Posted on: Jan 09, 2026 22:00 IST | Posted by: Cbc
For the endorse clip in his lifetime an capital of canada adult male had a first-degree murder case falter before he ever got to trial because of problems in the management of the prosecutions against him.
Defence lawyers in a trial about an alleged drive-by bounty killing targeting three brothers in 2021 — which killed two of them — have successfully argued that the right to a trial in a timely fashion has been violated.
After the ruling Friday by Superior Court Justice Ian Carter, Ahmed Siyad of Toronto walked out of the Ottawa Courthouse. Co-accused Abdullahi "Avon" Osman remained in custody because of an outstanding warrant.
"When the [trial] delay exceeds the presumptive ceiling and the Crown has failed to establish an exceptional circumstance, the court has no option," Carter told court.
"As the law stands now, the only available remedy is a stay of proceedings. As a result, that is the order that must be made in this case."
The right to a trial in a reasonable time is colloquially known in Canada as the Jordan principle, in honour of the case that helped establish appropriate timelines to get to trial. At the courthouse, it goes by 11(b).
Staying a charge stops or holds the legal process either temporarily or permanently.
The two brothers were shot at a busy Alta Vista Drive strip mall parking lot. A third brother was also shot and survived.
Investigators alleged Osman helped plan the shooting and that hired hands Siyad and Mohamed Shire, also from Toronto, carried it out. Shire remains wanted and at large.
Osman was earlier accused of first-degree murder in the shooting death of 27-year-old Yusuf Ibrahim in 2015.
But a year later, the Crown stood up in court and asked for the charges against Osman and his co-accused Mohamed Abdi Abdullahi to be withdrawn.
The Ottawa Citizen reported at the time that the improper handling of a witness had prompted the chief of police to call for an investigation.
On Friday, Osman and Siyad sat quietly in the prisoner's box as the judge was reading his decision, sometimes nodding their heads in agreement.
Osman and Siyad were originally scheduled to stand trial starting in June 2025, at which time the case was already in jeopardy of being tossed due to delay. Shortly before the trial began, evidence from two phones was found that had not been disclosed to the defence.
The June trial had to be cancelled and new dates were set starting in March this year, prompting defence counsel to ask for the stay of proceedings because of undue delay.
Osman was represented by Leora Shemesh, while Siyad was represented by Cydney Israel and Julianna Schiller.
The assistant Crown prosecutors on the file were James Cavanagh and Anne Fitzpatrick.
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