Canada: Somalia Man Wanted In Fatal Gas-And-Dash Set To Surrender
By: Louie Rosella
Mississauga, 24 Jan 2014 (SDN) –Peel Region’s most-wanted fugitive is negotiating his surrender to police after evading authorities for nearly two years over allegations he struck and killed a Mississauga gas station attendant during a gas-and-dash robbery.
Abdullahi Mohamoud, 24, of Mississauga, the subject of a Canada-wide warrant, has been in touch with his lawyer, Gary Batasar, about the possibility of turning himself in to police.
“I have recently been in contact with my client and I’m also in the process of speaking with the Crown Attorney and the police about the possibility of a surrender,” Batasar said Tuesday from the Brampton courthouse. “My client has asserted his innocence from the inception of this case and should he choose to surrender we will mount a formidable defence … He is innocent unless proven otherwise.”
Mohamoud is wanted in connection with the May 19, 2011 hit-and-run that killed Hashem Atifeh Rad, 62, who worked at a Petro-Canada station at Southdown Rd. and Truscott Dr.
Rad, a married father of two, was knocked to the pavement while trying to stop a thief who was fleeing with $75 in gas stolen from the station. He died in hospital the next day.
Batasar had yet to speak with Peel Regional Police or acting Peel Crown Attorney David Maylor as of Tuesday afternoon.
Const. Doug Tracey, the officer in charge of the hit-and-run case, described Mohamoud as “a ghost” who has never been employed and allegedly uses countless aliases. He said he is unaware of Mohamoud’s potential surrender, but welcomed the news.
“We’re anxious to deal with these charges,” he said.
In addition to the Peel case, Mohamoud is wanted in connection with a gang rape in Edmonton and a knifepoint robbery in Toronto. And Calgary police became involved last year because officers there believe he was allegedly using a bogus driver’s licence obtained in their city.
Edmonton, Calgary and Peel police forces have been hunting Mohamoud since spring 2012, when he is alleged to have skipped bail on the Edmonton charge. Prior to that, Mohamoud was granted bail in Brampton court on the hit-and-run charges under stringent house arrest conditions. Edmonton police then flew him to Alberta to answer to the sex assault charge.
Mohamoud is no longer in Alberta, Batasar said, refusing to disclose his whereabouts.
In a tearful interview last summer, one of Mohamoud’s cousins, Halgan Kaahin, said the man’s entire family in Mississauga wants him to turn himself in.
“All we keep getting is questions and questions and more questions from police and we don’t know the answer. He is a grown man,” she said. “He’s accused of a lot of bad things and he needs to be a man and answer to them. He needs to stop running. Please turn yourself in.”
Mohamoud’s brothers, Dayib and Daoud, also want him to surrender.
Batasar said Mohamoud wants to surrender “because he’s innocent and his family wants him to deal with this and move on with his life.”
Mohamoud is wanted in connection with a number of serious crimes, the most recent an incident on New Year’s Day 2013 in which he is alleged to have used a gun to threaten a transit officer in Edmonton.
Mohamoud remains at the top of most-wanted lists published by both Peel and Edmonton police.
Source:Mississauga News