Eby backs police who secretly took DNA from Kurds to solve B.C. murder

B.C. Premier David Eby says he supports police who secretly collected DNA from members of the Kurdish community to solve the murder of a 13-year-old Burnaby girl.

Eby says the victim’s rights were “profoundly and unalterably violated” by her killer, and police actions made the community safe from a predator.

“I think that many British Columbians recoiled in horror when we heard the horrific murder of a young woman in Burnaby, and we look to police to investigate, to find the person responsible before he killed somebody else,” Eby said Monday.

His remarks came after The Canadian Press revealed that police posed as tea marketers to collect DNA from about 150 Kurdish community members without their permission at a 2018 festival.

The operation ultimately led to the arrest of Ibrahim Ali, who was convicted last month of first-degree murder for the 2017 killing of the girl, who can’t be named because of a publication ban.

The girl’s body was found in Burnaby’s Central Park just hours after her mother reported her missing.

“It was the kind of thing that a parent has nightmares about,” Eby said, adding parents’ “sense of safety was shattered in our province by this horrific murder.”

“And the police went out, identified the suspect, arrested him, and he was successfully prosecuted. Every argument on his behalf that could have been levied — and in fact some that caused people to raise questions about the arguments that were brought forward, which was his right to do in a criminal trial but reactivated a bunch of trauma for people — was brought forward. And he was convicted. And he is in jail, which is where he belongs.”

Ali’s conviction in December concluded a lengthy trial plagued by delays. The defence was heavily criticized by many for arguments Ali’s lawyer made, disputing the portrayal of the victim by Crown counsel, saying the depiction was “rose-coloured” throughout the trial.

Eby says he “really struggles” with the idea that police should not have done what was revealed.

Ali is due in court Monday to fix a date for sentencing.

The trial heard DNA on a cigarette butt discarded by Ali matched semen in the girl’s body. However, the jury was never told why the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) was monitoring Ali, and an application by his lawyers for full information about the operation has been sealed by the court.

The Canadian Press listened to months of court recordings of pretrial hearings that reveal details of the secret operation and its random sweep.

Meghan McDermott, the policy director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said she was “stunned” to hear about the operation, calling it “unacceptable and reprehensible” if police failed to obtain a warrant for it.

The BC Prosecution Service said in an email to The Canadian Press Friday that the service “will not be issuing any statements or commenting on any aspects of the investigation or prosecution at this time.”

It is unclear whether a warrant was obtained by police.