Mother of Montreal teen fatally stabbed outside school in 2021 wants strict sentence for man found guilty of second-degree murder

The mother of 16-year-old Jannai Dopwell-Bailey, stabbed to death of outside his school in Montreal’s Côte-des-Neiges in 2021, says she wants to see a strict sentence for the 21-year-old man found guilty of second-degree murder of her son.

Jurors delivered the verdict for Andrei Donet Sunday at the Montreal courthouse.

For Charla Dopwell, who was present throughout the nearly month-long trial, the conviction is a relief. 

“To the end, no remorse. None of them, like if they didn’t do anything,” she said. “They are living, sleeping, eating, breathing and my son is six feet under.”

On Oct. 18, 2021, Dopwell-Bailey was stabbed at the end of his school day outside Programme Mile End and then ran back inside the school to seek help. He later died of his injuries.

Donet was charged just over a month after the killing

For Dopwell, reliving what happened to her son in the trial was a “nightmare.”

“It was very unbearable pain,” she said. “It was very sad. It was very devastating. I see things in the courts and hear things I didn’t know.”

The Crown entered into evidence surveillance camera footage that showed Donet, his accomplice and another person near Dopwell-Bailey’s school about 15 minutes before the end of classes. Several videos taken and posted to social media before and after the murder were also put into evidence.

One video also showed Jannai moments before the attack.

“Seeing him coming down the stairs and knowing the same minutes he’s down the stairs is that same time he’s going to be dead, it hurts,” she said.

The Crown argued that the killing was part of a conflict between two gangs, but Dopwell refutes that.

“My child is not in the street gang. He’s just a beautiful boy, just growing up, handsome, nice, vibrant, just wanting to rap and just be a teenager,” she said.

“The police told me, ‘Ms. Dopwell, I walk around here and I know there’s no gang, no 160 gang.’ It’s just rap. They rap in their 160 and uptown, uptown is in Cote-des-Neiges. But there’s no gang. There’s no gang.”

Another man, who cannot be named because he was a minor at the time of his crime, was convicted of second-degree murder in December. He was 16 when he was charged and has not been sentenced. The Crown is seeking an adult sentence in that case.

“I am doing a tough sentence, I am hurting,” says Dopwell. “Every day of my life, I have to think of my son and the horrible death he suffered.”

Donet will receive an automatic life sentence, however, will return to court at the end of the month, as a judge will have to decide how many years he must serve before he is eligible for parole. The minimum for second-degree murder is 10 years, the jury recommended 12 years, but Dopwell wants to see a more severe sentence.

“Something that will make them know never to do it again,” she said.