4th teen charged in Halifax mall stabbing testifying in own defence

The fourth teenager charged in the fatal stabbing of a 16-year-old boy in Halifax nearly a year ago is testifying in his own defence this week in Nova Scotia youth court.

The now 17-year-old boy is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Ahmad Al Marrach, who died in hospital after being stabbed once in the chest during an altercation in a parking garage at the Halifax Shopping Centre on April 22, 2024.

His three co-accused have already pleaded guilty, one to second-degree murder and two to manslaughter, and are at various stages in the sentencing process. The boy was 16 at the time of the incident and his identity — like those of his co-accused — is protected by a publication ban.

The boy did not deliver the fatal blow. But when his lawyer opened the defence case Monday by having her client tell his version of what happened, his testimony showed he was the catalyst for the deadly confrontation.

The boy and Al Marrach were both interested in the same girl.

"She kind of flicked back and forth between Ahmad and me," the teen testified.

Most of their communications, by text messages and Instagram posts, were a jumble of slang, abbreviations and emojis. Without the context and translation provided by the accused, the messages would have been largely unintelligible. 

The teen said the first time he realized there was a problem was when he received a text "out of the blue" from Al Marrach.

"You're done, bitch," the text read.

The teen said he wasn't initially certain what the text meant and replied with two laugh emojis. He finally figured out that the reference suggested the girl had chosen Al Marrach over him.

As they traded barbs, the teen said he eventually texted Al Marrach: "I'll stomp your ass." But he told the court he didn't really intend to do that. He sent another text that said: "You going to be leaking when I'm done with you," and explained he'd meant he intended to bloody Al Marrach's nose.

The two eventually agreed to meet after school to fight. He said Al Marrach insisted the confrontation take place at the mall while the accused said he wanted it to happen in Dartmouth where he and his friends lived.

He said he was suspicious of Al Marrach's insistence on the mall setting, so he asked his friends to come along.

"Let me run them for 10 seconds, then jump in," he texted them.

The four accused took a bus to the Scotia Square Mall in downtown Halifax and boarded another bus to the Halifax Shopping Centre.

The accused said they didn't talk much as they rode on the bus and the subject of weapons never came up. He admitted he was carrying a knife in his backpack.

The boy's first day of testimony ended with the arrival of the bus at the shopping centre. His account of the fight itself will come when the trial resumes later this week.