St. John's murder suspect Ibrahim Alahmad sits silently through court appearance
A hospitalized St. John's man accused of killing his wife last week did not say a word when he appeared before a judge by telephone Monday morning, prompting the high profile case against Ibrahim Alahmad to be adjourned.
Alahmad, 36, did not answer when a corrections officer in the hospital room with him said his name three times.
"He's not being responsive to us," the officer told the court.
"Your honour, I don't think you're going to hear Mr. Alahmad," Dan Furey, the Legal Aid lawyer handling the case on Monday, said to Judge Jennifer Mercer.
Alahmad does not speak English, so an Arabic interpreter was brought in to ensure the accused understood the proceedings.
The corrections officer said "he can hear him, yes," when asked whether Alahmad was able to acknowledge the interpreter.
Furey then asked that the matter be adjourned until Tuesday because Alahmad had "no meaningful contact" with defence counsel and had not exercised his right to legal representation since he was arrested on Thursday for the death of his estranged wife, Nariman Abdul Alghafour.
Furey said it was hoped that a lawyer from the Legal Aid office could meet with Alahmad Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning.
Judge Mercer agreed to set the matter over until Tuesday at 2 p.m. NT.
Alahmad faces charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping and breaches of court orders in connection with the discovery on Tuesday, March 5 of a deceased woman inside an abandoned and crumbling house on Liam Drive, a secluded road in Outer Cove.
CBC News has confirmed that the victim was Nariman Abdul Alghafour, Alahmad's wife and the mother of their five young children. Police believe Alahmad snatched Alghafour from the Virginia Park area of St. John's on the morning of March 5 and took her to the abandoned house.
CBC News has also spoken with a woman who works at a business next door to the abandoned house who confirmed that a man matching Alahmad's description staggered into the business on Tuesday morning, covered in blood and with injuries to his neck and wrist.
Police quickly labelled the death suspicious, and two days later announced that Alahmad had been charged with murder and other offences.
The family is from Syria, but has lived in Canada for nearly a decade.
Alahmad was under a court order to stay away from his wife and children, and court documents paint a picture of a household torn apart by allegations of abuse. Alahmad was facing a long list of charges such as assault with a weapon, forcible confinement and uttering death threats prior to Alghafour's death.
Alahmad was twice released from custody since mid-December.
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