Teen who murdered Jannai Dopwell-Bailey to receive youth sentence

Jannai Dopwell-Bailey, 16, was fatally stabbed in Cote-des-Neiges in October 2021. (Source: Submitted photo)

The teen convicted of killing 16-year-old Jannai Dopwell-Bailey in 2021 will serve his sentence in juvenile detention.

A youth court judge ruled Friday the defendant, who is now 19 years old, did not meet the criteria for an adult sentence.

The brutal murder of Dopwell-Bailey outside his school in Côte-des-Neiges nearly three years ago continues to haunt his family.

"Every day I have to think and pass the school [where] he was murdered, by the bench. Because I go to work every day and every day I see it. And every day I get shivers. I dream of him, I think about him … it doesn't feel like three years," she told reporters.

She learned that one of the two people convicted in her son's murder will be released from detention before the end of next year.

Prosecutors had argued that one of the defendants, identified only as C.M. because he was 16 years old at the time of the crime, should be sentenced as an adult.

But a youth court judge found his actions were impulsive, ignorant of consequences, and likely influenced by peer pressure, and that he therefore lacked the maturity and judgment of an adult at the time of the offence.

"The difference is if he was sentenced as an adult, it would be life. So, of course, the difference is major because as a young person, the maximum in prison would be four years," said defence lawyer Tiago Murias.

Crown prosecutor Simon Robin said he is not ruling out an appeal.

"Before making a decision we will take the time to analyze all the law that has been applied by the court," he said.

In October 2021, Dopwell-Bailey was pepper-sprayed, then beaten and stabbed 11 times by a group of teens outside his school.

In June, Andrei Donet, who was 18 at the time of the murder, was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 13 years for his role in the attack.

Dopwell-Bailey's family was hoping for a similar sentence for C.M.

"I don't think it's right that you only get that sentence because of his age. My son was 16 years old, too," the victim's mother said.

The accused will be back in youth court for his first sentencing hearing on Sept. 24.