PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The claim alleges that Skubic, the lead detective, did not believe or properly investigate the version of events Ali reported to 911 — that two masked men broke into her home and that her “baby,” who lived with cerebral palsy and could not walk or talk without assistance, was no longer breathing. Instead, the claim argues the veteran detective was quick to develop a working theory that Ali “fabricated the home invasion story to cover up her involvement in Cynara’s death.” The defendants were “determined to convict” Ali, the filings allege, and “abused the powers entrusted to them” to do so."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "In order to gain covert access to the family’s home and vehicle, undercover officers set up what the statement of claim describes as “a fictitious kiosk” at Scarborough Town Centre and offered Ali’s then-15-year-old daughter the opportunity to enter a simulated raffle for an all-expenses-paid trip to Niagara Falls, with guests — which she won. In his testimony, Allan Ali said he was initially hesitant to allow his daughter to accept the offer until he had spoken to an undercover officer who claimed to work at Scarborough Town Centre. “I was told, ‘It’s a real prize and they were lucky enough to win,’” he testified. When the family embarked on the trip, police took the opportunity to enter their home and install probes. It wasn’t until nearly a decade later that the Alis realized the nature of the trip."
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PASSAGE THREE OF THE DAY: "Toronto firefighter Semahj Bujokas was the first person to arrive at the home; from the outset, Ali claims Bujokas cast suspicion upon her account. “There are no footprints, don’t bulls—- me,” the firefighter can be heard saying in a recording of her 911 call, played in court. Ali’s claim states he then kicked her — part of his “aggressive behaviour” that drew the ire of other first responders. When later called to testify at both trials, Bujokas said he would have expected to see fresh sets of footprints after a light snowfall earlier that morning. Bujokas then administered CPR on Cynara, who was no longer breathing. She died 36 hours later at the Hospital For Sick Children; a cause of death was never determined."
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PASSAGE FOUR OF THE DAY: "On March 16, 2011, Allan Ali told detectives he found a letter in the family’s mailbox, written in the voice of the alleged home invaders explaining they had broken in under the instruction of a “boss” but “got the wrong house.” For more than a decade, the origin and author of the letter have remained unknown. “The Plaintiffs suspect, in light of subsequent events, that it was concocted and planted by (Toronto police) at Skubic’s direction,” the lawsuit claims."
STORY: "Toronto mom sues police in $10M lawsuit over ‘negligent investigation and false imprisonment’ in disabled daughter’s death, by Reporters Jim Rankin and Abby O'Brien, published by The Toronto Star, one October 10, 2024. (Jim Rankin is a reporter-photographer on the crime, courts and justice team. He has won three National Newspaper Awards and been nominated for eight others. In 2002, he led a team of reporters, editors and researchers involved in a Michener Award-winning investigative series into race, policing and crime in Toronto. He is also the recipient of a Canadian Association of Journalists Award and the St. Clair Balfour Fellowship from the Canadian Journalism Foundation. Abby O’Brien is a Toronto-based staff reporter for the Star. She previously worked at CTV News Toronto and on CP24’s digital team. She graduated from the University of Victoria in 2018.)
SUB-HEADING: "Toronto mom Cindy Ali spent four years imprisoned before her conviction was quashed. In a new lawsuit, she alleges Toronto police investigators became “determined to convict” and did not properly investigate her daughter Cynara’s 2011 death."
GIST: "Eight months after her acquittal in the death of her disabled teen daughter, Cindy Ali has launched a $10 million lawsuit alleging Toronto police were “determined to convict” her during their year-long investigation.
That “negligent” investigation and her now-quashed life sentence amounted to false imprisonment, Ali and her husband, Allan, argue in the claim, filed with the Superior Court of Justice in August.
The claim names the City of Toronto, the Toronto Police Services Board, former homicide detective Frank Skubic and Toronto Fire captain Semahj Bujokas as defendants, alleging the officials failed to meet a duty of care to the parents after their daughter Cynara’s death in 2011.
In January — more than a decade after the 16-year-old was found without vital signs in her Scarborough townhouse — Cindy Ali was acquitted of murder after a weeks-long retrial that left Superior Court Justice Jane Kelly “in a state of uncertainty” about “the truth of the matter.”
The claim alleges that Skubic, the lead detective, did not believe or properly investigate the version of events Ali reported to 911 — that two masked men broke into her home and that her “baby,” who lived with cerebral palsy and could not walk or talk without assistance, was no longer breathing.
Instead, the claim argues the veteran detective was quick to develop a working theory that Ali “fabricated the home invasion story to cover up her involvement in Cynara’s death.”
The defendants were “determined to convict” Ali, the filings allege, and “abused the powers entrusted to them” to do so.
The claim’s allegations have not been tested in court, and statements of defence have not yet been filed. When reached for comment, the City of Toronto and the Toronto Police Services Board said they would not speak to the matter while it was before the courts.
Skubic, who has never spoken publicly on the case, did not respond to requests for comment.
Bujokas, currently on leave from his role as fire captain, had not yet been notified of the claim when reached by the Star. He said he “emphatically” denies the allegations and plans to defend against the action.
The death of Cynara Ali:
On the morning of Feb. 19, 2011, Ali called 911 to tell dispatchers that two masked men, one armed with a handgun, had pushed their way into the family’s Scarborough townhome, seeking a “package.”
She told police that one of the men led her through the home on a search and, when returned to the living room, her daughter was motionless with the other man nearby, holding a pillow.
She said the invaders then claimed they’d gotten the wrong house and fled out a basement door connected to an underground parking garage.
Toronto firefighter Semahj Bujokas was the first person to arrive at the home; from the outset, Ali claims Bujokas cast suspicion upon her account.
“There are no footprints, don’t bulls—- me,” the firefighter can be heard saying in a recording of her 911 call, played in court. Ali’s claim states he then kicked her — part of his “aggressive behaviour” that drew the ire of other first responders.
When later called to testify at both trials, Bujokas said he would have expected to see fresh sets of footprints after a light snowfall earlier that morning.
Bujokas then administered CPR on Cynara, who was no longer breathing. She died 36 hours later at the Hospital For Sick Children; a cause of death was never determined.
The investigation that followed, dubbed “Project Litoria,” worked quickly to discredit Ali’s account of a home invasion to instead focus on the family, the claim alleges.
Within days, Ali, Allan, and three of their children gave lengthy, separate interviews to police, all without lawyers present. Homicide detectives also interviewed dozens of friends, neighbours and fellow church congregants.
In one such interview, referenced at trial, detectives asked churchgoer Jessica Arthur whether Cynara’s death could have been a mercy killing, and put forth a reference to Saskatchewan farmer Robert Latimer, convicted of killing his disabled daughter Tracy in 1993 in a case that captured international attention.
Like Cynara, Tracy Latimer also lived with cerebral palsy.
Asked if she believed Ali could have engaged in a “mercy killing,” Arthur recalled telling the officer: “Absolutely not.”
Within two weeks, police had obtained Cynara’s long-term care records and the family’s immigration file, and authorized surveillance at the home of extended family.
From there, court records suggest almost no efforts were made by detectives to probe the possibility of a home invasion.
The lawsuit also alleges police were behind one of the enduring mysteries of the case.
On March 16, 2011, Allan Ali told detectives he found a letter in the family’s mailbox, written in the voice of the alleged home invaders explaining they had broken in under the instruction of a “boss” but “got the wrong house.”
For more than a decade, the origin and author of the letter have remained unknown.
“The Plaintiffs suspect, in light of subsequent events, that it was concocted and planted by (Toronto police) at Skubic’s direction,” the lawsuit claims.
How investigators zeroed in on Cindy Ali
After months of little movement in the investigation, detectives received court approval to intercept the communications of more than 20 people in or connected to the Ali family, track the family’s mobile devices and vehicles, and install a number of probes in their home.
In order to gain covert access to the family’s home and vehicle, undercover officers set up what the statement of claim describes as “a fictitious kiosk” at Scarborough Town Centre and offered Ali’s then-15-year-old daughter the opportunity to enter a simulated raffle for an all-expenses-paid trip to Niagara Falls, with guests — which she won.
In his testimony, Allan Ali said he was initially hesitant to allow his daughter to accept the offer until he had spoken to an undercover officer who claimed to work at Scarborough Town Centre.
“I was told, ‘It’s a real prize and they were lucky enough to win,’” he testified.
When the family embarked on the trip, police took the opportunity to enter their home and install probes.
It wasn’t until nearly a decade later that the Alis realized the nature of the trip.
Shortly after they returned from Niagara, Skubic revealed to the family his belief that Cynara had been suffocated and that Cindy Ali was responsible.
In Allan Ali’s third interview with police, he was told by Skubic that his family was suspected of first-degree murder and warned that he and his wife could soon face criminal charges.
Just over a month later, Skubic arrived at the Ali’s home with a warrant for Ali’s arrest.
Ali was initially charged with manslaughter, upgraded to first-degree murder eight months later over investigators’ belief she lied about the home invasion.
At the first trial, the Crown suggested Cynara had become a burden on the family and that Ali smothered her daughter and staged a break-in.
A jury deliberated for less than 10 hours before convicting her of first-degree murder, handing her a life sentence with no chance of parole.
How Cindy Ali fought her life sentence:
Ali spent a total of four years imprisoned before her conviction was quashed in 2021 following an appeal by defence lawyers James Lockyer and Jessica Zita.
They successfully argued Ali’s jury had been “straitjacketed” into a decision that wrongly resulted in her conviction and life sentence. Not put to the jury at her first trial were a number of possible other theories, including that Ali could have done nothing wrong but panicked and made up the intruder story.
Ali’s conviction was quashed and Ontario’s highest court granted a new, judge-alone trial in October 2023.
At Ali’s retrial, the prosecution argued a new motive — that a series of seizures suffered by Cynara in the days before her death had sparked the fear that her quality of life would only worsen. It was with this in mind, they alleged, that Ali staged her home before smothering her daughter in an act of mercy.
Again, Ali denied the allegations and reiterated that she loved her daughter deeply and cared for her to the best of her ability.
Ali was acquitted on Jan. 19, 2024, sparking cries of relief from dozens of supporters present in the courtroom on the day.
Still, after a prosecution spanning a decade and two trials, Ali bears the scars of psychological and emotional trauma, the lawsuit claims, including an inability to grieve Cynara’s passing and two suicide attempts while imprisoned at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener.
The lawsuit is claiming $8 million from Skubic and the Toronto Police Services Board for negligent investigation and false imprisonment.” From the City of Toronto and Bujokas, the claim seeks another $2 million for negligence, battery, abuse of power, intentional infliction of mental suffering and misfeasance in public office.
The remaining $500,000 is being sought from all defending parties, on behalf of Allan, for losses of companionship, guidance, and care.
Lawyers Lockyer, Zita and Jeffrey Hartman have requested the civil matter be tried in Toronto."
The entire story can be read at:
article_29b8f0c4-857e-11ef-8452-f3d38d8ede0a.html
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
- SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
