Teen found guilty of second-degree murder in connection to fatal stabbing of 16-year-old Jannai Dopwell-Bailey

A teenager was found guilty of second-degree murder in connection with the fatal stabbing of 16-year-old Jannai Dopwell-Bailey outside a high school in Montreal’s Côte-des-Neiges in 2021. A jury rendered the verdict at Quebec’s youth court on Tuesday.

The accused’s identity is protected due to a publication ban, since he was 16 when he was charged with second-degree murder.

Dopwell-Bailey’s mother, Charla, who was present in court throughout the trial, says it was an emotional day. “God is great,” she said. “It was a long, long ride.”

“I feel relief, but it’s not going to bring back my son, he will always be on my mind 24/7.”

Dopwell-Bailey was also 16 and a student at Programme Mile End, an alternative school outside of which he was stabbed multiple times on Oct. 18, 2021. He was leaving school that day when he was first sprayed with cayenne pepper by an individual who was with the accused. Dopwell-Bailey tried to flee, but was pushed into a brick wall before being stabbed in the upper body at least six times, according to court testimony.

Dopwell-Bailey was transported to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The 12 jurors began their deliberations over the weekend to determine whether the accused, who had pleaded not guilty, committed the alleged crime.

The judge had instructed them of the evidence to consider, including a social media video posted an hour after Dopwell-Bailey’s stabbing, of a masked person, allegedly the accused, dancing and brandishing a knife.

The jury reached their unanimous decision after just under five days of deliberating, finding the accused guilty.

“It was a very it was very stressful, just waiting on them waiting all the weekend,” Charla said.

He is now 18 and prosecutor Simon Robin informed Quebec Superior Court Justice Annie Émond Tuesday that the Crown will seek to have him sentenced as an adult.

“It was difficult for me to look at him,” Charla said of her time during the trial. She says she hopes to see the accused given an adult sentence. “He did something an adult would do.”