Achi news desk-
WARNING: The following story contains disturbing graphic details. Readers are advised to use discretion.
Dallas Ly, the 23-year-old Toronto man who admitted to stabbing his mother Tien Ly to death in March 2022 at the Carlaw Avenue condominium they shared before cutting off her head and trying to dispose of her remains, has been guilty of substitution. degree murder.
The jury delivered its verdict just one day after being sequestered to begin deliberations in the University Avenue court.
When the jury was first asked by the court registrar, “How do you find Dallas Ly on Count 1?” the foreman replied, “Not guilty.” The defense looked relieved. But then, the foreman corrected himself, saying, “I misunderstood the question. We find Dallas Ly guilty of second degree murder.”
Dallas seemed dejected.
On March 28, 2022, Toronto police were called to Eastern Avenue near Berkshire in Leslieville after a woman walking home from grocery shopping came across two garbage bags on a grassy area near the sidewalk containing what appeared to be human remains. Inside the garbage bags, the police found Tien’s head, aged 50, and her broken body. Dallas, who was 21 years old at the time, was arrested a few days later at Eaton’s Center after unsuccessfully trying to flee the country.
Testifying in his own defence, Dallas said on the night of March 27, 2022, his mother returned home from work and when she entered the ninth floor unit, he told her he was going to move out and stay with to aunt He told the jury that his mother became very angry and started shouting in Vietnamese, threatening to kill him and his aunt. Dallas testified that he went to his room while his mother continued to shout threats that she was going to hurt him, got his bag and pulled out a hunting knife to scare his mother.
As his mother continued to shout that if he left, she would kill him and his aunt, he testified that he told her to move but instead, his mother started punching him and hitting him in the face It was then, he told the jury, that he “saw red” and started throwing around the hunting knife, which hit her on the neck.
A pathologist testified that Tien died from multiple stab wounds, suffering 27 in total.
The email you need for the day’s top news stories from Canada and around the world.
Dallas testified that he never meant to kill his mother and at first he didn’t believe what he had done, but after he called his cell phone a few hours later and no one picked up, he realized what it had been done. Panicked, he said he thought about cutting his mother into small pieces but after cutting off her head, he said he felt sick, put her head and body in rubbish bags and used a shopping buggy to her body was taken to Tommy Thompson Park, he said. have searched online.
As he pushed the cart down Eastern Avenue, he said he hit a curb and the body started to come out of the bags so he abandoned his plan and left the garbage bags on the side of the road before running back home.
The Crown argued that Dallas intended to kill his mother, telling the jury in closing that the night before Tien was fatally stabbed, her son called and asked him to work the next day at the Yonge Street nail salon she owned. The Crown told the jury that Dallas was upset at having to go to work at the salon and was seeking revenge for years of physical and mental abuse.
A forensic psychiatrist testified for the defense that Dallas suffered long-term physical and mental abuse from his mother. Dallas testified his mother often punished him for poor grades when he was at school, hitting him with a bamboo back scraper with a sharp edge, a shoehorn or slippers.
The defense told the jury that Dallas, who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), never meant to kill his mother. Given the abuse and neglect he had suffered, he believed his mother’s threats were real and was suddenly provoked by his abuser. The defense argued that, given the nature, length and history of the relationship between the mother and son, he reacted suddenly in the heat of the moment before regaining control.
A forensic psychiatrist told the Crown that she did not interview Dallas but listened to him testify and did a peer review of the assessment made by the defense forensic psychiatrist that she believed Dallas had been abused but could not say whether suffering from PTSD at the time of the killing.
The judge instructed the jury that if they had reasonable doubt that Dallas intended to kill his mother, they could find him guilty of the lesser offense of manslaughter or if they found he was acting in self-defence, they could find him not guilty.
Second degree murder comes with an automatic life sentence with a parole ineligibility period of between 10 and 25 years. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later date.
& copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
