In Toronto, Dallas Ly was sentenced on Wednesday to life in prison without the right to parole for 13 years for the unpremeditated murder of his mother Tien Ly in 2022. The dismembered body of the 46-year-old woman was discovered in trash bags at the edge of a sidewalk in the Leslieville neighborhood, in the east of the metropolis.
In his sentence, Justice Alfred O’Marra of the Ontario Superior Court wrote that Dallas Ly was indeed the aggressor and that he did not act in self-defense.
He recalls in particular that the autopsy revealed at the time that Tien Ly had been stabbed 27 times.
Tien Ly’s murder was brutal and gratuitous
explains the magistrate in an expeditious judgment.
Standing in the dock, Dallas Ly remained impassive as he heard the judgment, flanked by his two lawyers.
Family members and friends were in the courtroom to show support.
The Crown argued that Dallas Ly killed his mother in a fit of rage on the night of March 27 to 28, 2022, because she made him go to work for a seventh day in a row at her nail salon that Sunday – there.
According to her, the young man had murdered his mother to free himself from her influence, because she was controlling and threatening by nature and she was angry that evening.
Position of the murderer
The defense instead maintained that its client had no intention of killing his mother, that he had been provoked by the victim, who did not want him to leave her to go and live with his aunt.
Dallas Ly had acted, she said, in a moment of panic after years of abuse at the hands of her mother.
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A defense exhibit showing that Dallas Ly was hit several times during his childhood by his mother, who used a bamboo back scratcher to beat him.
Photo: COURTESY OF THE SUPERIOR COURT OF ONTARIO
She had argued that her client was also suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder since he had been martyred during his childhood. The Crown had never disputed such a syndrome, but it maintained that the assassin had suffered from it since the murder only because of the horror of his action.
However, not criminally responsible on grounds of mental health was never raised during the trial and it was never discussed during the jury’s deliberations.
The jurors nevertheless had the option of returning a verdict of involuntary manslaughter.
Dallas Ly will now be transferred from the Toronto provincial prison to a federal penitentiary, the location of which has not yet been determined.
He will be able to apply for parole in 13 years, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to get one.
More details to come
