Sentence of house arrest overturned for violent criminal

Court of Appeal overturns house arrest for violent criminal

- On Feb.18th, 21 year old Seif Ali's previous sentence of a one year condtional sentence, which allowed him to serve his time in the community under house arrest, was overturned and replaced by the Manitoba Court of Appeal with a 9 month prison sentence.
- The Judge said, "He should not have been considered as an acceptable candidate for a conditional sentence. He committed a brutal attack on a much younger individual who had done nothing to provoke such an attack."
- Last year, Seif was found guilty of aggravated assault for a violent attack outside Kelvin High School in Winnipeg. 
- He claimed he acted in self defense when he kicked a 15 year old boy in the head, leaving him with a broken jaw. 
- At the trial, the Judge said that "the force he used was far more than necessary and was excessive and unjustified." 
- The victim had brought a machete to school to "frighten people and never intended any harm" against a fight that was happening at the school.
- A verbal confrontation took place with the victim and the accused. 
- The accused grabbed the machete from the victim and in turn, assaulted him. 
- The victim was not hit with the machete 
- With the conditional sentence, Ali was allowed to venture 2 kms from his home, at any time of day or night as long as he had his one and a half year old sister with him.
- He was instructed to leave a voice message with his conditional sentence supervisor each time he left or returned from a walk through the neighbourhood and was not allowed to leave his home by himself at any time during the first four months but could be away from 6 am - 8 pm during the final 8 months.
- But throughout the entire sentence, day or night, he had to have his baby sister with him.
- At trial, the Crown has suggested a 30 month jail sentence but the Judge rejected the self defence claim and the sentence, saying she didnt want to put this man in an environment filled with other criminals who may take advantage of his vulnerability. 
- At the trial, it was determined that this man was of a medium risk to re-offend violently and Ali admitted that he had a problem with anger management. 
- During his conditional sentence, he was ordered to attend counselling and treatment, perform 50 hours of community service and meet with the victim to express his remorse. 

Liberal version of house arrest 
Judge critic questions assault sentence


I completely agree with the decision to overturn his previous sentence into a prison term of 9 months. This was a violent and unprovoked attack and if he was deemed to be a medium risk, why was he given a conditional sentence? If their is a medium risk to the public, he should be held in custody for some period of time. He should also be required to attend anger management programs in prison while he is there.