‘I did not kill’ her: Suspect pleads not guilty as murder trial in death of B.C. teen begins

The man accused of killing a teen girl in Burnaby, B.C., nearly six years ago has pleaded not guilty.

Ibrahim Ali is charged with first-degree murder in the killing, and is facing trial by a 14-member jury at B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver.

Asked for his plea, Ali — dressed in a black blazer with his hair slicked back — stood, gestured with his arms and declared, through an interpreter, “I did not kill” her.

Ali repeated the response two more times when queried by Justice Lance Bernard to specify whether he meant guilty or not guilty.

The judge, finally told the court he took that as a not guilty plea and moved on to instruct the jury on how the trial will proceed.

Along with being told not to discuss the case with anyone outside of the jury, not to do any research of their own and not to consume any media about the trial — Bernard urged them not to allow unconscious biases about personal characteristics, including that Ali is a Muslim man from the Middle-East, colour their judgement.

“Sometimes we are aware of these feelings and assumptions in ourselves or in others, however, there are other assumptions or stereotypes based on such personal characteristics that we or others may have without being fully aware of them,” he said.

“Our biases about personal characteristics such as race or gender, whether we realize it or not, can affect how we believe or disbelieve things we see or are told or how we react to those things. You must make a conscious effort to resist and to help other jurors resist jumping to conclusions based for example or race, ethnicity religion or gender.”

The judge then told the jury he had matters to discuss with counsel that must take place in their absence and dismissed them for the day. The details of those discussions and the victim’s name cannot be reported because the jury was not in the courtroom.

Crown’s opening argument is now expected to be delivered Thursday.

The teen was reported missing on in July 2017. She was last seen alive on security video shot at a coffee shop near her home.

Her body was found in a popular Burnaby park hours later, shocking the community.

At the time, homicide investigators described her death as a “random attack.”

Over the course of the investigation, investigators identified nearly 2,000 persons of interest in the case.

Police used a controversial “DNA dragnet” technique to identify a group of people of Middle-Eastern descent. It’s unclear what evidence led to the murder charge.

Ali, a Syrian refugee with no previous criminal record, was arrested nearly 14 months after her death.

He has remained in police custody since his arrest.

Since then, there have been numerous delays with the trial postponed five times — raising concerns that the case could be in jeopardy due to unreasonable delays.

The trial is expected to last for up to three months.