A violent Ethiopian immigrant confessed to relatives that he killed his estranged wife to salvage their infant son’s mind, a Crown attorney said Tuesday.

Amin Kassim fired four shots into Muluka Hassan Ali’s head and ran off with their two-year-old son, Sammy, on May 14, 2005, said Crown attorney Beverley Richards as she outlined her first-degree murder case to a jury.

Richards quoted the accused murderer as telling relative Ayan Mahdi: “It’s for my child. I did it for my child so his mind will not be spoiled.” The comment was allegedly made in an intercepted phone conversation on the day of the homicide.

Kassim also took two photos of Ali’s bullet-riddled body on the floor of her downtown Church St. apartment, court heard.

Kassim spent 36 hours as a fugitive from justice before ETF officers apprehended him, with the loaded murder weapon, “within his reach” at a relative’s Roselawn Ave. apartment, said Richards.

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Betsy Powell
Courts Bureau



A man shot his estranged wife four times in the head in her Church St. co-op, fled in a taxi with their toddler son, prompting an Amber Alert, and fired a handgun as the cabbie ran away, a Toronto jury heard Tuesday.

Amin Kassim, 35, has pleaded not guilty to the first-degree murder of Muluka Ali and the attempted murder of Joseph Mossa, the taxi driver. Ali’s body was discovered at 3:45 a.m. on May 14, 2005. She was 23.

Hours later, police began intercepting Kassim’s phone conversations in an attempt to locate Semar (Sammy) Kassim, 2, Crown attorney Beverley Richards told jurors. “You will hear Mr. Kassim tell a family relative ‘I did it for my child so that his mind will not be spoiled.’”

On May 15, at 8:13 p.m., police discovered Kassim in the bedroom of an apartment on Roselawn Ave. A speed loader — a device that allows for the rapid loading of a revolver — and a spent shell casing were found in his pockets. A large handgun and a camera were also discovered, the prosecutor said.

Bullets extracted from Ali’s head were fired by the gun found in the Roselawn apartment, Richards said. Police developed photos from the camera showing Ali, apparently shot, laying on the floor of her apartment.

Kassim, who is representing himself, got to his feet once during the Crown’s opening to object.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Clark told Kassim he would hear his remarks in the absence of the jury.

The trial continues.

Source: thestar