A 15-year-old youth, arrested today in the stabbing death last week of a 14-year-old boy as he walked home from school, appeared in a Brampton courtroom late this afternoon.
Rajiv Dharamdial was stabbed to death last Tuesday. He called 911 in a frantic attempt to save his own life.
Peel Police confirmed earlier this afternoon that they had arrested and charged a 15-year-old with first-degree murder.
The mother of the dead boy, Sunita Dharamdial, appeared at the Courthouse in the company of a about a dozen family members.
She was wearing a t-shirt with a photograph of her son on the front.
“I never thought in a million years that this would happen to us,”she said as she arrived.
She sat with her hands clutched around her chin as she anxiously waited in the courtroom with relatives.
Earlier, she said she needed to “look into the eyes”of her son’s alleged killer.
When the accused appeared just before 4:30pm. She started to cry.
The accused wore a blue and black plaid jacket with a black hoodie. He was handcuffed as he stood in the prisoner’s box.
Peel Crown Mark Saltmarsh said the youth’s lawyer requested that he remanded until tomorrow morning.
The court imposed a publication ban on all evidence under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
A court source told thestar.com that text messages among several students played a role in the arrest.
Another source said several other young teens are being questioned and further arrests could be made.
The arrested teen’s name is protected by Canada’s youth laws.
A member of the dead boy’s family said Peel homicide investigators came to their home this morning to tell them that an arrest had been made.
“This morning the detectives came and they said they’ve caught them. I don’t know nothing more than that,”said Mary Dharamdial, the boy’s aunt.
“It’s a bit of a relief to know they’ve found these criminals.‚Äö√Ñ√π
The young Grade 9 student at Sandalwood Heights Secondary School made a frantic 911 call after being attacked about 3:00pm in an undeveloped ravine that runs behind his Fairlawn Blvd. residence in the area of Humberwest Parkway and Airport Rd.
Defence lawyer Gary Batasar confirmed today that he had been retained by a 15-year-old boy in connection with the deadly attack.
“I can’t say anything about this case right now,”Batasar said. “I was just retained by the boy’s family‚Äö√Ñ√π.
The accused lives in Brampton, a source said although it’s unknown whether he or any of the other teens being questioned attended Rajiv’s high school.
The deadly attack occurred within moments of him parting ways with several friends, who were walking with him, police previously said.
Paramedics found him bleeding from several stab wounds after a passerby initially stumbled upon him lying near a dumpster and a construction Bobcat.
He was rushed to hospital but died later from his injuries.
Family members said that Rajiv wasn’t robbed and still had $90 in his knapsack.
“I don’t know why I keep wondering, ” his mother said.
“All I have is his memories,”said his mother.
“Music and food was his love. I always cooked for him every morning at 5:30am.
The homicide, the 24th of the year in Peel, was the fourth slaying in four days being investigated by Peel Police.
Police said at the time of the tragedy that witnesses reported the young boy being followed by two young black boys about his own age.
In a tragic twist to this already horrific story, Dharamdial family members also knew Brandon Paltooram, 19, who was stabbed to death three days earlier outside of a Mississauga house party.
A 16-year-old was also arrested in that murder.
The young man was stabbed multiple times while defending his girlfriend after becoming involved in a dispute with several other people who physically assaulted her earlier in the evening at a house party on Rosewater Ct. in Mississauga.
Torstar
Brampton Guardian