Mother Sobs As Son’s Killer Is Released From Jail Early
Posted November 20, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It was a terrible crime that left an entire community in shock. And now it’s produced new outrage for those that knew and loved the victim.
A judge decided on Thursday to to release a young offender jailed five years ago for the brutal beating of a 15-year-old boy.
He’ll be allowed to serve out the rest of his 10-year sentence from home.
Like millions of others, Terrance Ali had gone to Caribana weekend back in August 2003. But unlike most of those who attended the summer celebration, he never came home.
The slightly intoxicated teen was stripped by his attackers, brutally beaten and nearly decapitated in a vicious attack near the lakeshore. His body was later dumped and he was left to drown in Lake Ontario.
Police arrested three men – two adults and one young offender. All were convicted in the case, including the underage culprit, who was just days shy of 18 at the time of the crime.
The killer, who can’t be named because of his age back then, was sentenced to ten years less time served for first-degree murder.
While the other two men convicted in this case remain in jail, the young offender’s sentence came up for review, and the youth pleaded for an early release.
That outraged the victim’s family, including his mother, Moonie Ali. She’s become a well known and outspoken advocate for justice since her son’s murder, attending every one of the killer’s pleas for mercy.
So when Judge Russell Otter – the same jurist who sentenced the youth after the heinous crime – agreed to his request to be released on Thursday, she was outraged.
“I’m helpless…the criminal is right there in the hallway,” she sobbed outside the courthouse.
“(He’ll be in) the luxury of his house with his family. Where’s my son?”
“I didn’t feel like fairness prevailed today,” she added, regaining her composure. “The community, we have one more murderer on the street. Again, the victim got short changed.”
The now 23-year-old is expected to hit the streets on Thursday, after serving just a fraction of his jail time.
The judge says he has made significant progress towards rehabilitation.
“I am satisfied that he met the criteria of exceptional progress,” the judge intoned, as both the killer and Ali’s family cried for very different reasons in the courtroom: one for his freedom, the other for a lost son who will never get his own chance to come home.
