The father of a young Calgary man who was swarmed, beaten and ultimately stabbed to death in 2013 says that he feels cheated by the justice system because one of his son’s killers is free on bail.
Dale Hird, after attending a court hearing on Thursday that saw lawyers for Assmar Shlah and Franz Cabrera lay out the terms of appeals for their murder convictions, says that he has been exhausted by the whole process.
“It’s quite exhausting actually. We’ve been through this six, seven week trial and convictions and sentencing. We haven’t even been really given a chance to start grieving our loss here. It’s always in our face, never ending lies about trying to get away with what happened to my son.”
Cabrera’s lawyer claims the trial judge did not give a full summary of his defence to the jury while Shlah’s says there are inconsistencies with witness testimonies.
Hird says that he wants to see an end to their lies and wants them to go to prison.
“I lost my son. I watched him die a brutal death. For me, it’s really haunted my life. My life is nothing like it was before and it never will be. His mother isn’t doing very well either. She’s in Bolivia right now and it’s destroyed her life too,” he says. “It’s not something you can every get over. We are mourning every single day.”
While Shlah was requesting bail, Hird says he started a petition to convince the courts to deny his applications, but it was unsuccessful.
“There were several thousand signatures. Not a single person agreed with a convicted killer getting bail and that’s actually the third part of the law; how the public feels about the justice system, right into their bail law and unfortunately, we got no response from it. The Crown said they weren’t even going to use it.”
In February, Calgary police told the media that Nathan Gervais, the fifth suspect in the death of Strasser-Hird was caught while on the run in Vietnam.
That means that Hird will need to attend another arduous trial, but he says he will do it.
“That’ll be another nightmare too, you know? I’m actually curious what he has to say. What he has to say about Assmar’s involvement because Assmar’s acting like he didn’t do nothing.”
Hird says he will also be attending Joch Pouk’s parole hearing and everything else.
“I’ll be here for everything to stare these guys in the face. They don’t seem to be able to look me in the eye but it’s because they’re cowards.”
Despite it all, Hird says he is still haunted by his son’s final days.
“I woke up this morning in that hospital room, hearing that ventilator, begging my son to stay alive and its four and a half years later. So it’s demolished me.”
The judge presiding over the appeals has reserved a decision for both applications.
Gervais’ three-week trial begins on May 6, 2019.
(With files from Shaun Frenette)
