Killing of Jannai Dopwell-Bailey: youth sentenced to 6 years

The young man found guilty of killing teenager Jannai Dopwell-Bailey in 2021 has been sentenced to six years minus a reduced credit of 12 months for time already served.

The man, who was 16 at the time of the murder and cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was found guilty last year of second-degree murder.

On Monday, he was ordered to serve two years in custody and three years under conditional supervision in the community.

“There’s no justice for my child, there’s no justice, no justice for Jannai,” said the victim’s mother Charla Dopwell. “It’s very hard to take. It’s terrible.

“I’m serving a life sentence. Me. The punishment is me. I’m getting punished for all of this.”

The sentence was less than what was requested by the Crown: a maximum sentence of seven years without any credit for time served.

“We were the opinion that considering the violent acts that were committed by the accused and the indescribable consequences that were inflicted to the victims, only the maximum sentence was sufficient to make the adolescent accountable for his actions,” said Crown prosecutor Simon Robin.

The judge described the length of the sentence as long enough to hold him accountable for his actions, but not too long that it becomes counter-productive to rehabilitation.

“I believe in the potential of rehabilitation. I’ve been doing this for all those years because I do believe in rehabilitation and I just hope that my client will be successful in rehabilitation, that’s all that matters,” said defence lawyer Tiago Murias.

The man will be placed in youth detention until his 20th birthday, at which point he will be transferred to an adult detention centre – unless decided otherwise by a youth court judge.

The sentence comes with conditions, including being prohibited from possessing firearms and prohibited weapons, or from communicating with Dopwell-Bailey’s family.

Robin has not indicated if the Crown intends to appeal the sentence.

“There’s a lot of principle of law that applies,” he said. “This is what we will evaluate in general concerning the decision and to determine whether or not there is a possibility and an opportunity to go into appeal.”

The accused was sentenced as a minor after the judge denied the Crown’s request to sentence him as an adult. The judge noted that his level of maturity, other behavioural issues, and cognitive challenges all played a role in her ruling.

“Well, we were asking at first for an adult sentence,” said Robin. “After the decision of this court, we were asking for the maximum sentence under the YCJA, the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Of course, the decision of this court is not what we were wishing for. We are taking notice of this decision and we will take the time to see how the law was applied to the facts and evaluate the possibility and the opportunity to go into appeal.”

Dopwell-Bailey was attacked and stabbed repeatedly outside his school in Côte-des-Neiges on Oct. 18, 2021. He rushed into the school to seek help and later died in hospital.

“What happened to Jannai should not have happened,” said the teen’s godfather Kevin George after Monday’s sentencing. “You don’t send your children to school and find them dead at the end of school. This should not have happened and there needs to be a lot more prevention in terms of the school, in terms of preventing violence, but also in the community as well.

“There’s too much violence that happens between youth and it needs to be addressed.”

The other accused in the case, Andrei Donet, was also found guilty of second-degree murder and was sentenced in June to life in prison for the Montreal teen’s death. The 21-year-old will be eligible for parole in 13 years.