For the second time in two days, a teenager testifying at a murder trial in Halifax, Nova Scotia, has recanted what happened immediately before a 16-year-old was stabbed to death last year.
The 14-year-old witness initially told the youth court on Tuesday that he saw the 17-year-old defendant pull out a knife and then drop its sheath minutes before Ahmad Maher Al Marrach was stabbed during a fight in a parking garage near the Halifax Mall.
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Ahmad Maher Al Marrach and his family arrived in Canada from Syria as refugees eight years ago. He attended Citadel High School.
Photo: Courtesy of the Al Marrach family
The witness, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, said he was afraid of being stabbed when the accused picked up the sheath.
The Crown and defense agree that the accused did not stab Ahmad Al Marrach, but the Crown argues that he is guilty of second degree murder because he planned a mob attack that he knew could lead to the death of the teenager on April 22, 2024.
The young witness claimed he was mistaken about the identity of the person carrying the knife after seeing two videos in court, one from a surveillance camera in the parking lot and the other another of a cell phone carried by one of the teenagers involved in the fight.
The witness, who is in Year 9, told the court the person with the knife was actually another boy in the crowd of youths who had gathered to watch the fight.
On Monday, a 15-year-old witness told the court the defendant threatened him with a knife and ran towards him during the fight.
Under cross-examination, that same witness said none of this happened after a lawyer for the defendant showed him the surveillance video and informed the court of his contradictory statement to police.
