Mother of slain teen says victim's compensation held up due to newspaper article

Montreal -

A mother whose 16-year-old son was killed says a fund which compensates victims is being held up because of a newspaper article.

Jannai Dopwell-Bailey was stabbed in broad daylight in the parking lot of the Programme Mile End school on Van Horne Avenue in the city’s Cote-des-Neiges neighbourhood. He later died in hospital. 

An 18-year-old and a 16-year-old have been charged with his murder.

His mother, Charla Dopwell, told CTV she's been working with a company that provides compensation and therapy support to victims of crimes. 

She says she followed procedure, and had been sending documents to the organization in preperation to receive funds.

That process was halted, she says, after a news article reported that her son was linked to a local gang. 

"And then they called and said they got everything, but ... (the representative) said she had to send it to the police because the French news said it's gang related." 

Dopwell denies her son was involved in any gangs. 

"They are tarnishing his name," she said. "He was not in a gang. My son is not in a gang."

Police have said Dopwell-Bailey was not known to them.

Criminologist Maria Mourani told CTV it's common for young people to associate with gang activity on social media, even if they aren't actually involved in any criminal behavior.

"You’re going to have some young people that use social media and identify themselves like a member of a  gang, but they are not members of gangs," she said.