A mother accused of strangling her teenage daughter with a scarf was acting in selfdefence, her lawyer said Monday.
Mark Tyndale, who represents Aset Magomadova, pointed to a statement of agreed facts entered in the second-degree murder trial. He said 14-year-old Aminat Magomadova, who died Feb. 26, 2007, had been “habitually running away from home, boasting that she was using drugs, being sexually active and stealing” --behaviour that caused stress for the rest of the Muslim family.
Documents note Aminat had pleaded guilty to assaulting her teacher, Rhonda Wakely, on Oct. 4, 2006, and on the day she died, she was to appear in court to be sentenced, but did not want to go.
Wakely had told a probation officer that Aminat’s behaviour was “like a predator.”
Tyndale said his client, a 38-year-old Chechnyan refugee and mother of two, had been dealing for some time with her daughter’s history of violence.
She also was, and still is, encumbered by losing part of her foot in an explosion in Chechnya.
“If we are able to bring evidence of prior acts of violence or evidence of propensity towards violence by the deceased, then we can show it was more likely she who started the fight and she who was the aggressor, bolstering the defence of selfdefence,” Tyndale said outside court.
“The judge has to decide how far back we can go and how wide-ranging we go in terms of evidence of this young lady’s propensity for violence.”
Crown prosecutor Mac Vomberg argues the probe should go no further back than the start of the school year in September 2006.
The admitted facts also show how Aminat was experiencing difficulties adjusting to life in Calgary, including being teased at school about her poor English, her weight and her manner of dress.
She also had difficulty learning to speak, read and write English, and overcoming emotional issues arising from her background.
Tyndale said there were allegations that Aminat was bullying students at school. She reportedly took a knife to school and had been expelled from more than one school.
“The young lady is alleged to have attacked my client and she (Aset) defended herself.”
Vomberg introduced numerous exhibits, including the accused’s head scarf. After her arrest, she demonstrated to police how she used it to strangle her daughter.
According to the agreed facts, Aset made phone calls to Austria and did not call 911 for about an hour after Aminat’s death.