A man who was 16 years old when he shot an unarmed man to death in Burnaby with a stolen 9 mm Beretta semi-automatic pistol and was then caught walking around a busy mall with the same loaded weapon tucked into his waistband eight days later, has lost an appeal of his 10-year jail sentence.
Kiir Chol was two months short of his 17th birthday on Sept. 24, 2014, when he shot and killed Aladdin Ramadan outside Ramadan’s Rosser Street condo near Brentwood Town Centre at about 10:30 p.m.
He and his co-accused, Samir Mokhtar and a youth who can only be identified as K.D., had been driving together.
Mokhtar knew Ramadan and told Chol and K.D. that Ramadan had a “beef” with him.
As they were driving, Ramada then suddenly and unexpectedly pulled his vehicle alongside and shouted to Mokhtar to pull over, which he did, according to court documents.
“With everyone then out of both vehicles, Mr. Ramadan, an exceptionally muscular young man, approached Mr. Mokhtar in an aggressive fashion, ‘speed-walking’ toward him with his fists raised,” states a sentencing ruling. “Mr. Chol intervened and shot Mr. Mokhtar at least three times in fairly rapid succession with a 9 mm Beretta semi-automatic pistol.”
Ramadan died almost instantly.
Chol fled with Mokhtar, while K.D. stayed at the scene, as did Mr. Ramadan’s passenger, Nicholas Andreatta.
Mokhtar was caught at the Canada-United States border in December 2014 and charged in the killing but was then shot to death himself in Vancouver in July 2015.
Chol, meanwhile, was arrested eight days after Ramadan’s killing at a Surrey shopping mall with the gun used in the shooting tucked into his pants and loaded with nine cartridges, one in the chamber, and the safety catch off, according to court documents.
He pleaded guilty on April 5, 2017 to possessing a loaded restricted firearm, and a jury convicted him of manslaughter.
The Crown called for an adult sentence, which the court can impose on a young offender if prosecutors can prove a certain level of moral blameworthiness or culpability or if a youth sentence wouldn’t be long enough to hold the young person accountable.
Chol’s lawyer called for a youth sentence.
In the end, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Heather Holmes imposed adult sentences – a seven-year jail term for the killing and three years for the weapons charge – to be served consecutively for a total of 10 years.
“I am satisfied … that a youth sentence would not be of sufficient length to hold Mr. Chol accountable for his conduct,” Holmes stated. “Among other considerations, such a sentence would not be long enough to reasonably ensure that Mr. Chol will be successfully rehabilitated and re-integrated into a law-abiding life.”
Chol’s legal counsel appealed, arguing Holmes erred in her analysis and should have ordered the two sentences to be served concurrently.
But that appeal was dismissed by the B.C. Court of Appeal on May 10.
Justice Sunni Stromberg-Stein in her reasons concluded Holmes may have considered some irrelevant factors evaluating Chol’s moral blameworthiness but that any errors had no impact on the sentence.
By the time he was sentenced, Chol had spent time at four institutions: the Burnaby Youth Detention Centre, the Surrey Pretrial Centre after he turned 18, the North Fraser Pretrial Centre and the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre, where he is expected to serve the rest of his time, according to court documents.
