‘My heart bleeds’: teen’s family give statements at Calgary fatal hit and run sentencing

One of two men charged after a May 2020 collision in Calgary that killed 15-year-old Ibaad Yar and injured two other teenage boys was found guilty of assault with a weapon and assault on Friday.

Mahipal Rajput was sentenced to four years of prison. He is also subject to a lifetime weapons ban. This includes, but isn’t limited to, firearms, crossbows, restricted weapons, ammunition and explosive substances.

With one year granted for time served in pre-trial custody, he will have to serve another three years in prison.

“He was a young man. You’re an adult,” Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench Justice David Labrenz said.

“You were a group of grown men chasing children over a brick… It’s inconceivable to me that you find yourself in that situation.”

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Earlier in Rajput’s sentencing hearing, Crown counsel read out victim impact statements from Yar’s family, explaining the trauma and sadness that entered their lives in the days after they learned Yar died.

Yar is remembered as a kind and goofy teenager who loved to make people laugh and smile, they said. He had a lot of ambitions, hopes and dreams, despite being in and out of the hospital due to his diabetes.

Yar’s mother, Sadiya Yar, said she still has a room set up for him in the family’s new home.

She spoke about how, as a mother, losing a child is an unexplainable type of pain and how hard it was to find comfort in the regular things. This was the second time she’s lost a child, she added.

“My son was supposed to be here today and planning a date with his friends like he always did. I shouldn’t have to write this to express how I’ve been impacted by my son’s death,” read Sadiya Yar’s statement.

“My heart bleeds as I speak and I go to his grave even on the coldest of days and most dangerous of weather conditions so my son knows I’ll always be there.”

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These statements affected Labrenz, and he reflected on that in his sentencing.

Labrenz also expressed empathy toward Rajput, noting he believed this would not have happened if he was sober. Towards the end of the sentencing hearing, Rajput’s lawyer disclosed his client is an alcoholic.

However, Rajput still had a role to play in this incident.

“I appreciate that you were drinking. It explains what occurred, but it doesn’t excuse it,”  Labrenz said.

He added he will also recommend Rajput serve his sentence in a penitentiary centre in British Columbia. Rajput was previously assaulted in a remand centre in Alberta, his lawyer said earlier during the sentencing hearing, and the remand centre will help him with his substance abuse issues.