Advisory: This story includes disturbing details about a murder trial.
Prosecutors at a Burnaby murder trial say they intend to prove Ibrahim Ali attacked a 13-year-old girl on a trail inside Central Park, dragged her into the bushes, sexually assaulted her and strangled her to death.
Isobel Keeley outlined the Crown's theory in an opening statement to the jury in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver Friday, laying down a road map of the evidence it plans to present against Ali in the coming months.
Ali is on trial for first-degree murder in the death of the girl, whose body was found in Central Park on July 19, 2017.
Ali has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The victim cannot be identified because of a publication ban.
Keeley told the jury they will hear from a forensic pathologist who will say the 13-year-old died of strangulation and that semen was found in her vagina and anus.
An expert is expected to testify that the DNA extracted from the semen matched Ali's, according to Keeley.
The Crown theory, according to Keeley, is that Ali and the girl were strangers to each other, and that sometime after she left her home for the last time at about 6 p.m. on July 18, 2017, she encountered Ali on a trail in Central Park.
He attacked her and dragged her into the forest, according to the Crown's version of events.
"The Crown's theory is that Mr. Ali strangled (the girl) to death in the course of sexually assaulting her," Keeley said.
She warned the jury photos that will be introduced into evidence will be "difficult to look at."
Keeley noted that her opening statement was not evidence but that the Crown would present evidence in the form of witnesses and exhibits in an attempt to prove its theory.
The prosecution intends to call 50 witnesses.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on Twitter @cornaylor.
Email Cornelia, cnaylor@burnabynow.com.
