Father killed 4-month

Father killed 4-month-old daughter days after Children's Aid Society visits

WARNING: This story contains highly graphic details of child abuse

Four-month-old Layah Mashkor had a bruised cheek when a Children's Aid Society of Ottawa caseworker showed up to visit her on April 26, 2023.

Her father, then 29-year-old Ahmed Mashkor, told the caseworker that the infant had been rolling around her crib in the living room of the apartment and had pressed her face into its bars.

Less than a week later, during another Children's Aid Society visit with a separate caseworker on May 1, 2023, the baby had no visible injuries. But Ahmed Mashkor said Layah had fallen off the couch when he left her unattended, and that he hadn't brought her to hospital because he had looked her over, she seemed fine, and she wasn't upset.

Five days after that visit, Layah was killed.

Her father grabbed her in the early morning hours of May 6, 2023, and inflicted two blunt-force head injuries with a whiplash component, which a forensic pathologist said required "severe force," according to an agreed statement of facts read by assistant Crown attorney Chantal Lefebvre at Ahmed Mashkor's guilty plea and sentencing in Superior Court last month.

At 3:20 that same morning, Ahmed Mashkor took Layah to The Ottawa Hospital's General campus. Surveillance footage shows him calmly walking into the hospital and through its halls, holding Layah against his chest.

He said Layah had fallen and was having trouble breathing, and handed the baby — blue and lifeless in her navy onesie — over to a nurse.

Layah was pronounced dead two minutes later. After staff told him she had died, Ahmed Mashkor told a doctor he needed to go outside for a cigarette, and never returned. He didn't tell anyone he was leaving and hadn't told anyone his name.

Surveillance video shows him walking out of the hospital and off the property at the same calm pace as when he arrived.

Layah had been placed into Ahmed Mashkor's care two months earlier. He had initially refused to be part of Layah's life, and insisted on a paternity test to confirm she was his before he met her for the first time on March 3, 2023.

He was given joint custody of Layah on March 8, 2023, alongside Ahmed Mashkor's mother, who was granted primary custody. They lived with Ahmed Mahskor's sister.

That arrangement lasted for 20 days, until an altercation erupted. Police were called and Ahmed Mashkor had to be removed from the home, according to the agreed statement of facts heard in court.

He wanted to move in with his father in the Vanier neighbourhood, but the Children's Aid Society initially determined the home was unclean and unsafe. They got the green light to move into the apartment where Layah was killed two days later.

An hour after Layah was pronounced dead, Ahmed Mashkor's iPhone sent an automated crash response message to 911. He "had driven his vehicle head-on at a guardrail," which "went clean through the middle of the vehicle." The vehicle then caught fire and the highway had to be closed.

"There were no brake or skid marks on the roadway before the collision ... indicating that there was no attempt to brake," the agreed statement of facts filed with the court reads.

Speedometer 'stuck at 165 km/h'

"The speedometer in the vehicle was stuck at 165 km/h, while the tachometer was stuck at 5,000 RPM. The steering wheel was locked in the 12 o'clock position and the vehicle transmission was in 'drive.'"

Ahmed Mashkor was taken to The Ottawa Hospital's Civic campus, "and had to be handcuffed to the bed during transport as he became increasingly violent and belligerent toward staff." Security personnel at the Civic recognized him as the man who had dropped Layah off at the General earlier that morning.

He was charged with second-degree murder, and on June 10, Mashkor pleaded down to the lesser included offence of manslaughter. The Crown and defence jointly proposed a 10-year prison sentence, which Justice Marc Labrosse accepted.

With credit for the time he's already served in jail, the now 32-year-old amputee has about seven years left. (One of his legs was amputated at the hip after the crash, court heard.)

Layah's grandmother, Cynthia Worthington, told court in her victim impact statement that she "would truly like to believe that it was an accident of some sort. I wish Ahmed would have said something earlier. I, we, just want to know what happened to our little angel.

"I shall never get to hold her again, never get to bring her on a little sled, never get to watch her skate like her mom, my daughter Rosie. Never get to push her on a swing; things I see all around the community daily."

Layah's mother has been "inconsolable" since her death, Worthington added, breaking down into tears. "I can't bear it at times, what she is going through. Who could?"

"These are always very tragic cases, Your Honour — this one in particular — when an infant is lost to the world and to her family," Ahmed Mashkor's defence lawyer, Joe Addelman, told court.

"My client can't bring his daughter back, but he can do the right thing now, take responsibility ... for his role in this, for what he caused, and start the process of rehabilitating himself, serving his jail sentence, and working towards reintegration into the community."

Lefebvre, the assistant Crown, said Ahmed Mashkor brought Layah to the hospital when she was already dead without ever having called 911, then lied to hospital staff about what had happened to her, giving him "a high degree of moral culpability" nearer to the spectrum of murder.

"Layah was entitled to the absolute safety and protection of her parent while in his care, and she suffered a fatal assault at his hands. Though [his] actions were short-lived, it was not an accident. It was deliberate, and particularly vicious," Lefebvre said.

Speaking slowly and carefully, Justice Labrosse called the 10-year sentence "a very high sentence for manslaughter. Some would qualify it as a near-murder sentence."

"Not only do I have confidence in the three lawyers that are before me here today, that they have properly assessed this case, I am also satisfied myself. That this is a result, within the confines of this tragedy, that respects the objectives of the administration of justice, and that somehow those involved will feel that justice has been done, if that's possible at all."

'Staff are expected to assess risk'

CBC asked the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa whether it met its own expectations and standards in its response to Layah's bruising in April 2023, to Mashkor saying that she had fallen off a couch while unattended, and with its decision to keep Layah with her father after the family altercation.

The society declined to answer those questions, citing privacy concerns.

"In all situations, our staff are expected to assess risk based on the information available at the time, consult with supervisors as required, and take action in accordance with legislated standards," it said in an emailed statement.

"We want to reassure the public that child safety remains our highest priority. We continue to work closely with community partners, including health care providers, law enforcement, and family services, to strengthen our collective ability to identify risk and respond effectively to protect children."

CBC Ottawa senior writer Kristy Nease has covered news in the capital for 17 years, and previously worked at the Ottawa Citizen. She has handled topics including intimate partner violence and climate, and is currently focused on the courts and judicial affairs for all platforms. Get in touch: kristy.nease@cbc.ca, or 613-288-6435. Worried about your security? Find me on Signal — kristyneasecbc.613 — and send me a message.