AKKAD o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2007-06-04 published
The chase, the taxi and a neighbourhood in mourning
By Margaret
PHILP and Omar EL
AKKAD,
Page A1
Toronto -- Monique and Aleisha were best Friends taking a taxi
home from a relative's house in the early hours of Saturday morning.
They would never know it, but they shared many mutual Friends
with the 15-year-old boy racing blindly toward them in a stolen
Acura being chased by two police cruisers. The three teens had
even grown up in the same northwest Toronto neighbourhood.
The stolen car smashed into Monique and Aleisha's taxi at 2 a.m.
on Saturday. By the time the sun came up, two of the three teens
were dead and the third in hospital, clinging to life.
Friends have identified Monique
McKNIGHT - a 16-year-old Grade 11
student at Toronto's Emery Collegiate Institute - as the teenager
instantly killed in the collision, which took place when the
stolen car crashed into two taxi cabs near the intersection of
Finch and Islington in northwest Toronto.
Seated next to Ms.
McKNIGHT was her best friend, 17-year-old
Aleisha ASHLEY.
Ms.
ASHLEY was in critical condition at Sunnybrook
Health Sciences Centre yesterday. The 15-year-old boy driving
the stolen car was also taken to hospital, but died a few hours
later.
Friends flocked to cyberspace to remember Ms.
McKNIGHT, a girl
described as a "sweetheart" who was funny and had a smile that
"could light up a room."
"I couldn't believe it when I heard it. She was such a nice person
she really didn't deserve to die," a friend named Vanessa said
yesterday. "I just saw her and she was fine, now [she's] gone.
Monique was one of the nicest people anyone could ever meet."
The 15-year-old boy who slammed into the taxis was speeding northbound
in a stolen blue Acura on Islington Ave. near Finch in Etobicoke
about 2 a.m. when two marked police cars, responding to a gun
call, started a chase. After the collision, the teenage driver
was taken to Sunnybrook, where he died from his injuries five
hours later. The drivers of the two taxis escaped with minor
injuries.
Friends of the 15-year-old driver described him as a social young
man who grew up near the site of Saturday's accident and attended
Monsignor Percy Johnson Catholic High School. Many of his Friends
last saw the teenager late Friday night, when he attended a prom
after-party.
Because of the two deaths, 12 investigators from the province's
Special Investigations Unit have taken over the case from the
Toronto Police Service, whose officials remain tight-lipped.
Two Toronto police officers involved in the chase are being investigated,
while five others are considered witnesses: in the probe into
whether police should be charged in the accident.
The deaths are rekindling debate about the wisdom of police launching
high-speed chases, some of which have killed and maimed scores
of innocent bystanders over the years.
In recent years, following public outcry over the deaths of people
mowed down by out-of-control vehicles fleeing pursuing officers,
police services across North America have adopted tougher rules
governing police chases.
In Ontario, new regulations to the Police Act were passed seven
years ago that compel officers to weigh the urgency of arresting
a suspect against the risk to public safety of a high-speed chase.
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AKKAD o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2007-10-04 published
Housekeeper's death at Mississauga mansion treated as foul play
By Omar EL
AKKAD and Jessica
RAFUSE,
Page▼
A15
The death of Jocelyn
DULNUAN, a Filipino-born, 27-year-old housekeeper
found inside a multimillion-dollar mansion on Monday, is likely
the result of foul play, Peel Regional Police say.
That sums up just about everything homicide detectives are willing
to say.
"The location was targeted for a specific reason that I am not
prepared to comment on today," Inspector Norm
ENGLISH, head of
the homicide bureau, said yesterday at a terse news conference.
"I do believe, though, that there was property taken from the
residence, however this needs to be determined after doing a
proper walk through with the homeowners," he said.
Ms. DULNUAN came to Canada last year on a work visa and worked
as a nanny in various locations across the Greater Toronto Area
before moving into the massive Mississauga home as a housekeeper,
Insp. ENGLISH said.
Both Ms. DULNUAN and the home - estimated to be worth more than
$10-million - may have been targets, he said, adding that Ms.
DULNUAN's
mother, who lives in Hong Kong, has been notified of her daughter's
death.
But as to what condition Ms.
DULNUAN's body was in, the cause
of her death, what items were taken from the home and a host
of other questions, Insp.
ENGLISH would only reply: "I'm not
prepared to discuss that."
Peel police spokesman Constable Adam
MINNION said homicide detectives
can sometimes choose to withhold information so as to not compromise
an investigation. "If [homicide detectives are] reluctant to
provide information, they must have their reasons," Constable
MINNION said. "Every situation's different. There must be something
they've seen there."
Police received a 911 call around 5 p.m. on Monday from one of
the homeowners inside the home. The homeowners, Vasdev (Dave)
CHANCHLANI and his wife
Jayshree, were not home at the time of
the incident, Constable
MINNION said.
Police have not yet publicly named any suspects.
At several Toronto churches with strong Filipino followings,
no one recognized Ms.
DULNUAN by name or photo yesterday.
She was also not registered with Intercede, a group that advocates
for the rights of domestic workers and caregivers.
"We've been getting calls all day," said counsellor Columbia
DIAZ, who is hoping to use the agency's contacts to get in touch
with Ms. DULNUAN's
Friends. "A lot of Filipina maids are worried
and want to know more, but there's not much that we know."
Ms. DIAZ said many caregivers and domestic workers prefer to
work in populated areas instead of secluded homes with limited
contact with the outside community.
Jo ACUNA, owner of Brampton-based Sunrise Placement Services,
said live-in nannies tend to apply for a work permit under the
federal live-in caregiver program.
The program stipulates that such employees must work in a private
home and be provided a private, furnished room within that home.
Ms. ACUNA said the largest portion of such workers arrive from
the Philippines, usually after first working in Hong Kong.
A representative from the Philippines consulate in Toronto said
the consulate has been in contact with Ms.
DULNUAN's mother,
who is trying to arrange the transportation of her daughter's
body back home.
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AKKAD o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2007-12-12 published
Teen tried to leave strict family
Father now faces murder charge
By Omar EL
AKKAD and Kenyon
WALLACE,
Page▲ A1
Aqsa PARVEZ was largely estranged from her family and sleeping
away from home in recent days. The 16-year-old's Friends said
she returned to her home in Mississauga on Monday only to collect
her belongings.
Shortly afterward, she was taken to hospital, where she died
early yesterday morning - leaving Friends grief-stricken and
igniting a public debate on religious extremism in Canada.
Her father, 57-year-old taxi driver Muhammad
PARVEZ, is charged
with murder. Her brother, 26-year-old Waqas
PARVEZ, is charged
with obstructing police.
Ms. PARVEZ's
Friends described the Grade 11 student at Applewood
Heights Secondary School as someone who was drawn to Western
culture even as her family adhered to a devout form of Islam.
Friends paint a picture of a hardworking and cheerful girl who
loved dancing, fashion and photography - interests that often
clashed with her strict home environment.
"Aqsa was always trying to get us to go shopping with her," schoolmate
Dominiquia
HOLMES-
THOMPSON/THOMSON/TOMPSON/TOMSON said. "We were supposed to go to the
mall together today."
Last week, Ms.
PARVEZ temporarily moved in with a friend from
school.
"She said she wasn't getting along well with her family and that
things weren't right," said Trudy
LOOBY, the mother of one of
Ms. PARVEZ's
Friends,
Alisha. "
When she was here, she was very
happy."
Ms. LOOBY said she told Ms.
PARVEZ to inform her parents about
where she was staying. "She notified me that the school was aware
of where she was staying and that that was okay," the mother
said.
During her stay, Ms.
LOOBY said, Ms.
PARVEZ didn't wear the hijab,
a head scarf that Friends said was a hot topic within her family.
Krista GARBUTT remembers walking down the street with Ms.
PARVEZ
earlier this year, when the two of them spotted Ms.
PARVEZ's
brother walking toward them. Panicking, the teenager quickly
fumbled for her head scarf, trying to put it on. "There were
times when we'd be walking down the street and she'd see her
brother and she wouldn't be wearing her hijab and she'd have
to put it on," Ms.
GARBUTT said. "She said, 'He'll kill me, he'll
kill me.' I said, 'He's not going to kill you,' but she said,
'Yeah, he will.' And nobody believed it."
On Monday morning, Peel Regional Police responded to a 911 call
from a man who said he had just killed his daughter. When officers
arrived at a single-family detached home on Longhorn Trail, they
found Ms. PARVEZ suffering from life-threatening injuries. She
was taken immediately to Credit Valley Hospital and later transferred
in critical condition to the Hospital for Sick Children, where
she died.
Peel police said the Crown is waiting to decide whether Mr.
PARVEZ
should be charged with first- or second-degree murder, pending
a police investigation. Although police would not elaborate on
the ongoing homicide investigation, the difference between laying
a first- or second-degree murder charge often rests on proving
that the killing was premeditated.
Ms. GARBUTT said the teenager went home on Monday to collect
her belongings, at which point her father "basically went ballistic."
For weeks before, Ms.
PARVEZ had been living something of a double
life, Friends said.
"She wanted peace with her family," Alisha
LOOBY said. "She wanted
to make them happy but she wanted to be herself at the same time,
and there's nothing wrong with that."
A makeshift memorial is already in place at Applewood Heights,
full of mementoes and messages left by grieving students.
"Aqsa was honestly the brightest girl around. She had the biggest
smile and was the happiest person in school. She loved to dance
and take pictures," one student wrote.
Across Canada, the killing has taken on larger proportions. On
call-in shows and websites, many have used the incident as part
of a wider indictment of fundamentalist Islam. One Canadian conservative
blogger suggested Canadians boycott taxicabs driven by Muslims.
In a statement yesterday, the Canadian Council on American-Islamic
Relations called on Canadians of all faiths to address issues
of domestic abuse, and called for "the strongest possible prosecution"
of those responsible for Ms.
PARVEZ's killing.
Trudy LOOBY, who let Ms.
PARVEZ stay at her home last week, said
she now wishes the teen had not left.
"I was feeling that whatever it was she was dealing with at home
was a bit too personal to involve me in," Ms.
LOOBY said. "I
wish she would have stayed longer, that's all. It's a sad waste
of life."
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