CALGARY – A mother should go to prison for 12 years for strangling her teenage daughter with a head scarf at their northeast Calgary home more than three years ago, a judge was told on Tuesday.
Crown prosecutor Mac Vomberg argued that Aset Magomadova, 39, a refugee who fled Chechnya and came here in 2003, abused her trust and authority when she killed Aminat, 14, on Feb. 26, 2007.
Vomberg also argued that the victim was seeking help, trying to get out of the house, before she was killed, and that the mother continues to portray herself as the victim.
"This is not how parents resolve their disputes with their teenage children," the prosecutor told Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Sal LoVecchio.
Vomberg admitted he and defence lawyer Alain Hepner, who will seek his client not be incarcerated, are at "polar opposites" in their sentencing submissions.
Magomadova faced a second-degree murder charge, but was convicted last Oct. 7 by LoVecchio of the included offence of manslaughter.
Manslaughter carries with it anywhere from a suspended sentence to life imprisonment.
LoVecchio repeatedly asked Vomberg to justify such a lengthy sentence for the mother, whose fled the wartorn country after her husband was killed in the late 1990s.
"Tell me what protection the public needs?" the judge asked. "Are you saying she’s a risk to go out and kill somebody else?"
Vomberg said, although the woman may not be a risk to the general public, there still must be a deterrent sentence stemming from domestic violence.
He also cited several victims, including the woman’s wheelchair-bound son, her sister and the sister’s young daughter.
Vomberg said although the woman comes from a background with an extraordinary level of violence and turmoil, there still is no justification for her actions on that day.
Despite her many adjustments to a new country, Vomberg added, Magomadova also had the duty to assist her daughter and younger son cope with their new life.
LoVecchio will hear later today from forensic psychologist Patrick Baillie, who was hired by the court to conduct a series of tests to delve more into the mother’s past in Chechnya, before sentencing.
"We need a whole lot more information. It’s a very complex case," Lovecchio told the lawyers earlier this year. "It’s the kind of sentencing that challenges you as counsel and the court."
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.
Magomadova admitted at trial to having a deadly confrontation with her troubled 14-year-old daughter Aminat at their home that fateful morning.
Hepner previously said he would argue for a conditional jail sentence to be served in the community but, on Tuesday, he only said he would ask for no jail.
LoVecchio said in his verdict that Magomadova wasn’t defending herself when she strangled Aminat, but added she didn’t intend to kill the girl.
He said he convicted her of manslaughter, because she went too far in trying to end an altercation.
"I find that Ms. Magomadova, by choosing to apply a ligature — in this case, a scarf — for at least 2 1/2 minutes, was the application of excessive force," said LoVecchio.
Magomadova, a Muslim, testified Aminat attacked her with a chair, breaking a window in the sewing room where she regularly prayed. She said her daughter went to the kitchen and returned with a big knife.
The mother testified she feared for her life, grabbed her scarf and wrapped it around her daughter’s neck. She said she told Aminat at least twice to "drop it (the knife)," then stopped the pressure when she did so.
LoVecchio said the lack of fingerprints or DNA on a knife found near the victim’s body — and only two minor scratches on the mother — caused him to doubt the knife was used in the incident.
Court heard there had been several assaults and verbal threats by Aminat against fellow students, teachers and other people over the previous year. Her lawyer argued it was proof of the girl’s propensity for violence.
The fatal confrontation began when Aminat refused to go to court to be sentenced for assaulting a teacher in October 2006, four months before the girl’s death.
dslade@theherald.canwest.com
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