Overview

• The 16-year-old defendant, one of four teens charged in the April 2024 Halifax mall parking garage stabbing of Ahmad Maher Al Marrach, is appearing for sentencing after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.
• At the defence’s request, the court barred publication of testimony from a psychologist, a consulting psychologist and a forensic social worker who assessed the teen.
• The hearing will reconvene on September 12 and is expected to conclude on October 3, 2025, when the court delivers its sentence.
• Three other teen defendants faced manslaughter charges in the case: one was sentenced to three months in youth detention, another is scheduled for an August 1 sentencing and a 17-year-old begins a weeklong hearing on October 20.
• Ahmad Maher Al Marrach was a 16-year-old Syrian refugee and high school student whose death has underscored debates in Nova Scotia over juvenile sentencing, privacy and rehabilitation.