Regina man sentenced to 10 years for manslaughter in 'execution-style' shooting of man

A Regina man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for manslaughter in the 2021 "execution-style" shooting death of another man lured to an apartment building in the city's Gardiner Park neighbourhood under the pretence of a party.

Abdimalik Dahir Mohamed, 34, was initially charged with second-degree murder after Ahi Stephane Ebrotie was shot 11 times in the early hours of Nov. 14, 2021. His co-accused, Ismail Ahmed Hassen, is still at large and wanted for first-degree murder, according to the recent sentencing decision.

But a Saskatchewan Supreme Court justice said in her May verdict she could not determine definitively who fired the fatal shots. She also could not say for certain that Mohamed knew the victim would be killed, or knew Hassen intended to kill him.

However, "I found that a reasonable person in all the circumstances would have appreciated that bodily harm was the foreseeable consequence of the unlawful act that was about to occur," Justice Beverly Klatt wrote in a Sept. 18 sentencing decision, which was made public on Friday. 

"I was not left in a reasonable doubt about Mr. Mohamed's knowledge that there would be an attack on Mr. Ebrotie and that he intended to aid in that attack."

Crown prosecutors had pushed for a sentence of 13 years, while the defence had advocated for a sentence of between six to eight years. The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has consistently stated a general sentencing range of four to 12 years for manslaughter involving a gun, according to Klatt.

Remorse a mitigating factor

The motivations behind the shooting remain unclear, Klatt wrote, but evidence suggested Ebrotie's death may have been related to an incident at the nightclub owned by Mohamed's brother-in-law.

Prior to his death, Ebrotie had broken a window at Ryderz Lounge, where Mohamed worked as a security guard, according to the decision. Ebrotie was then forcibly removed from the lounge and banned from its premises.

The night of Ebrotie's death, Hassen called him multiple times and invited him to come to an "after-party" at an apartment building on Heseltine Road.

"Whether [Hassen] was doing the Ryderz Lounge management a favour or whether his motive was something else entirely, I cannot say," wrote Klatt. "Whatever the case, he was intent on ensuring the victim arrived at the Heseltine apartment."

Shortly after 5 a.m. and within minutes of arriving, the victim had been gunned down outside the building, in a narrow corridor between the building and a row of parked cars, said the decision.

While there was no direct evidence, Klatt found it was likely beyond a reasonable doubt that Mohamed had driven his vehicle closer to where the victim was killed moments before the shooting.

"Mr. Ebrotie's killing was execution-style; he was shot 11 times" shortly after meeting the men outside the south door, wrote Klatt. 

"This was a planned assault, not an impulsive one that erupted in the heat of the moment," wrote Klatt, saying that was an aggravating factor.

Another aggravating factor leading to the longer sentence was Mohamed's three previous convictions for drug possession — one of which came after Ebrotie's death — and the fact he was out on bail and in violation of the terms of his bail at the time of the killing, said Klatt.

However, she found Mohamed's "obvious remorse" was a mitigating factor. Addressing the victim's parents, "he was very emotional and said he did not wake up that morning intending to cause harm to their son," she wrote.

"He said it happened so fast and if he could have done something to stop it, he would have."

Mohamed, who is married with four children, told the victim's parents "he failed them and his family," acknowledging "his apology, as sincere and heartfelt it appeared to be, would never bring their son back," Klatt wrote.

Mohamed will serve just under four more years of his sentence with credit for time served since his arrest in November 2021, according to the sentencing decision.