A 21-year-old Calgary man has been sentenced to two years less a day in jail for possession of a loaded, prohibited firearm. Ahmed Salim Saeed had pleaded guilty.
In his Nov. 30 sentencing decision, Justice A. J. Brown said there is a dramatic increase in gun violence in Canada in recent years and called it “terrifying,” given that Canadian gun laws are dramatically different from American gun laws.
“The malign influence of highly publicized American gun crime must be countered by forceful denunciation and deterrent sentencing.
Justice Brown also said that the Supreme Court, while striking down the three-year mandatory minimum sentence for a s.95(1) offence as unconstitutional, made clear that exemplary sentences of 3 years or more will still be appropriate to deliver denunciation and deterrence in cases of gun violence, especially those offences that fall in the category of “true crime.”
The length of Saeed’s conditional sentence (CSO) is reduced by credit for time spent in remand custody. The sentence is 729 days and that is reduced by 315 actual days, treated as 473, leaving 256 days (or approximately 8.5 months) left on the CSO, followed by 18-months probation.
Court heard that on Jan. 18, Saeed was at his mother’s home with his girlfriend. The two got into an argument around 5 p.m. The argument escalated, Saeed left, and his girlfriend ran to the closest neighbour to call 911.
Calgary Police Service (CPS) officers responded and set up containment of the house, due to the nature of the call. Saeed fled to the rear of the house, into the alley to the north.
Challenged by a CPS officer, Saeed reached into his satchel as he attempted to run west. He slipped and fell on ice, dropping his satchel, got back up and continued to run, leaving the satchel behind.
Continuing his run south, Saeed missed being hit by a non-lethal round fired by a CPS officer, but then stopped and was taken into custody.
The recovered satchel contained a Glock .45 handgun, loaded with a magazine and ammunition, and one round in the chamber. Saeed didn’t have a licence or registration for the firearm. At the time, he was bound by two forms of release, one from August 2020, the other, from August 2022. Conditions of those orders included house arrest and a firearms ban.
Saeed came to Canada in 2019 from Ghana and is a Permanent Resident. He is well supported by his mother, older sister and family friends, all of whom filed reference letters with the Court.
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