Hussien Ibrihim to plead guilty to manslaughter in Natasha Farah killing
Currently charged with 2nd-degree murder, Ibrihim will plead guilty to manslaughter
The mother of a young woman gunned down outside a Calgary nightclub says she is not angry that her daughter's accused killer plans to plead guilty to a lesser charge.
A date was set today for Hussein Ibrihim to plead guilty to manslaughter in the shooting death of Natasha Farah on Aug. 23, 2014. Ibrihim's trial date on his current charge of second-degree murder was also vacated on Friday.
"I'm upset and in a way I'm ok — it has to be over," said Farah's mother, Naima Ismail from her home in Toronto.
Farah, 26, was standing outside Bronco Smokehouse and Saloon at 11th Avenue and First Street S.W. early in the morning when gunfire erupted nearby.
The next month, Hussein Ibrihim was charged with second-degree murder.
She was a recent public relations graduate who had moved to Calgary from Toronto about a year before.
"I anticipate the Crown ultimately agreed with me that there was no evidence that my client intended to shoot anyone, that this was for lack of a better term, a very unfortunate accident," said Ibrihim's lawyer, Allan Fay.
Prosecutor Adam May said he and Fay have been in talks about a plea for a while.
"In reviewing the evidence my view is that an appropriate way to dispose of it is a plea to manslaughter," said Adam May.
Ismail, who lives in Toronto, says she and her other daughter will be here for the plea and sentencing on April 29.
"I want to be there for my daughter, I want to see his face," said Ismail.
A second-degree murder conviction comes with an automatic life sentence while there is no minimum sentence for manslaughter.
'The pain will never go away'
A joint submission on a sentence is expected but neither of the lawyers would indicate how long they'll be proposing.
The mother and daughter spoke just hours before Farah's death. The two were going to travel to Washington, D.C. to meet up with Ismail's other daughter the following weekend. She wonders if she should have tried to prolong the conversation.
"You have to live in the moment," said Ismail. "I miss Natasha every day, the pain will never go away."