By Canadian Press

Mother tells B.C. murder trial of final embrace with teenage girl, hours before death

Aug 24, 2023 | 3:55 PM

VANCOUVER — The mother of a 13-year-old girl found dead in a British Columbia park six years ago has told a murder trial how she gave her a last hug, hours before the girl’s death.

The Chinese mother has testified through tears that she didn’t know it would be their “final farewell.”

The woman has been testifying for a second day at the B.C. Supreme Court of Ibrahim Ali, who has pleaded not guilty to murdering the girl whose body was found in Burnaby’s Central Park in the early hours of July 19, 2017, just hours after her mother reported her missing.

Neither the mother nor her daughter can be named under the terms of a publication ban.

Speaking through a Mandarin interpreter on Thursday, the mother says she and her daughter had an agreement that the girl would not go into the park near their home after dark.

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She says that on the day the girl died, her mother invited her to go to a friend’s farm in Langley together, but the girl declined and decided to stay behind.

She says her daughter was in a good mood in the weeks leading up to her death because she was on summer break.

The woman earlier told the court on Wednesday that they had spent time together in the weeks leading up to her death, going to Canada Place to watch Canada Day fireworks and hiking at Joffre Lakes Park.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 24, 2023.

The Canadian Press