HALIFAX — For the second time in as many days, a teen witness testifying at a Halifax murder trial has recanted statements he made about what happened immediately before a 16-year-old student was fatally stabbed last year.
The 14-year-old witness initially told youth court Tuesday that he saw the 17-year-old accused pull out a knife and then drop its sheath minutes before Ahmad Maher Al Marrach was stabbed during a fight inside a parking garage near the Halifax Shopping Centre.
The witness, whose identity is protected from publication, said he was afraid of what would happen next.
"I thought he was trying to stab me, so I backed off," he said.
The Crown and defence agree that the teenager on trial did not stab Al Marrach, but the Crown has told Judge Elizabeth Buckle that the evidence will show he is guilty of second-degree murder because he planned a group assault that he knew could lead to Al Marrach's death on April 22.
The alleged stabber, who is 15, has also been charged with second-degree murder. His trial starts next month.
As for the young witness, he told the court Tuesday he was wrong about who was carrying the knife after he was shown two videos in court, one from a surveillance camera in the parkade and the other from a cellphone carried by one of the teens involved in the fight.
The witness, who is in Grade 9, told Crown attorney Sarah Kirby that the person with the knife was actually another boy among the crowd of young people who gathered in the parking garage, not the teen on trial.
"Now that I see the video … I got mixed up," he testified.
The boy told the court that Al Marrach, who was originally from Syria, was a good friend whom he had known for about four or five years. He testified that he went to the parkade after Al Marrach had told his friends that he planned to fight with the 15-year-old later accused of stabbing him.
The Crown, however, has told the judge that the victim had actually told his friends that he planned to fight the 17-year-old accused who is now on trial. The court has already been shown a video that makes that clear.
During his testimony Tuesday, the witness described how a fight between Al Marrach and the accused stabber had already started by the time he entered the parkade. The surveillance video shows the witness standing close by as Al Marrach and the second accused — then 14 years old — suddenly separate.
At that point, there was a skirmish over Al Marrach's backpack, and the accused stabber approached the victim, the witness said.
"(He) came from behind, turned (Al Marrach) around and stabbed him," the boy told the court, adding that the weapon appeared to be a large kitchen knife.
The witness later confirmed that he didn't know any of the four teens accused of attacking Al Marrach in the parkade — two of whom have already pleaded guilty to manslaughter. But the witness said he eventually learned all of their names through social media.
On Monday, a 15-year-old witness told the court that the 17-year-old on trial had threatened him with a knife, and that the accused was one of two boys armed with knives who had run toward him during the fight.
Under cross-examination, the 15-year-old witness said none of that happened, after defence lawyer Anna Mancini showed him the surveillance video and informed the court about his contradictory statement to police.
The trial, which started last week, was expected to resume Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 14, 2024.
Michael MacDonald, The Canadian Press
