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CALGARY — A Calgary woman wept Thursday after learning she would not go to jail for strangling her teenage daughter with a scarf.
A judge gave Aset Magomadova a suspended sentence with three years of probation for killing her 14-year-old daughter, Aminat more than three years ago.
"At first blush (this sentence) may sound like a get-out-of-jail free card. It is not," Court of Queen's Bench Justice Sal LoVecchio told the Calgary courtroom.
Magomadova, 40, a refugee from the war-torn country of Chechnya, was originally charged with second-degree murder, but the judge ruled she did not intend to kill the girl at the Calgary home, even though court heard at least 2 1/2 minutes of continuous strangulation was needed to cause death.
The judge convicted Magomadova of the lesser included offence of manslaughter in October.
Magomadova said her troubled daughter came at her with a knife during an argument at their Calgary home on Feb. 26, 2007.
Court heard the argument was sparked when her daughter refused to go to court to be sentenced for assaulting a teacher.
Magomadova, 40, said she wrapped the scarf around the girl's neck to get her to put the knife down.
The Crown had been seeking a 12-year sentence.
Prior to her sentencing, Magomadova's lawyer argued her disabled teenage son needed her to remain free.
In a letter the son, who is in a wheelchair and living with severe muscular dystrophy, pleaded with the court to not imprison his mother.
"I need my mom. If you were to take away my mom, who would I go to for help, who would I go to for advice, who would I go to for any kind of help?" the 15-year-old asked.
"Please don't put her in jail."
Years ago, Magomadova's husband died in a bomb blast on his way to work during a Russian invasion. Later, Aset had most of her foot blown off in another bomb attack and now walks with the aid of a cane.
Marilyn Millions, one of Magomadova's sponsors with St. James Anglican Church in Calgary, said outside court she was relieved "at the compassion and mercy that has been shown" by the court.
"There were lots of tears and emotion," she said. "If you've lived through it and you've gotten to know these people, it's all in the context. It's a lot different than reading a little bit about it."
Millions also said it was the wish of the family that "people would know mental health services for young people and . . . for their families will be improved, and changes made to the system, so that others who have to go through similar situations do not fall through the cracks."
Defence lawyer Alain Hepner said his client was crying after she learned she'd be free to go home and agreed it was appropriate.
The judge said he wrestled with dynamics of the family in reaching his conclusions.
"This was a family in crisis with events spiralling out of control," he said, alluding to the tension between Aset and Aminat leading up to the deadly confrontation that morning.
"It cannot be reduced to simply a case of mom choosing to kill her daughter as a form of discipline because she misbehaved. Quite simply, the events of that morning cannot be seen as a single isolated event."
The prosecutor would not comment about a possible appeal of the sentence.
The court will now work out all the conditions of probation.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
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WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK OF MURDERER WALKING AWAY WITH A THREE YEAR PROHIBITION ONLY? IS THE CANADIAN JUDICIAL LAW BECOMING A JOKE AFTER ALL?
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