Habibullah "Daniel" Ahmadi, 24, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Sara Anne Widholm, 76, who was attacked on Oct. 8, 2017 at his ongoing trial in Chatham, Ont. Thursday.
As CTV Windsor reports, Video of Ahmadi’s initial interview with Windsor Police Service was played in court where he admitted to using magic mushrooms and smoking marijuana throughout the evening of Oct. 7 and into the early morning hours of Oct. 8.
Ahmadi says he got the magic mushrooms from Evan Hooper-Gelinas, a man he had just met that day. He said he started to run from Hooper-Gelinas on east Windsor, Ont.'s Ganatchio Trail because he was afraid when he saw a woman on the path.
In the video Ahmadi told police Widholm scared him and he blacked out. Saying, “I didn't see a 75-year-old lady when I looked at her; I didn't see a human face.”
Det.-Const. Chris Shaw responded, “you expect me to believe a little old lady scared you?”
Ahmadi did not reply.
He told police he doesn’t remember striking the woman, saying he “blacked out” around that time. Shaw calls that “memory of convenience.”
In his interview, Ahmadi is soft-spoken, cries periodically and repeatedly asked about “the lady’s” injuries.
After the assault, Ahmadi told police he started running and fell into water. Earlier court testimony heard his shorts and socks had sand in them and that he was soaking wet and shirtless when he was arrested.
Late Thursday, Hooper-Gelinas was on the stand. He testified he brought one ounce of magic mushrooms with him that night, which Ahmadi shared with him.
Over the course of the evening, Ahmadi, Hooper-Gelinas and two other friends were smoking marijuana at Ahmadi’s home.
When he and Ahmadi went for a walk around 5 a.m., Hooper-Gelinas testified “out of nowhere” Ahmadi grabbed him from behind in a “bear hug” and said, “Let’s fight.”
Hooper-Gelinas testified Ahmadi told him he and his friends would have sparing matches like MMA, but Hooper-Gelinas didn’t want to fight because he was recovering from a sprained ankle and wrist from a skate boarding accident.
Around 6 a.m., Hooper-Gelinas testified they “crossed paths with this old woman. I said, ‘Good morning.’ She said, ‘Hello.’” And they continued walking.
Hooper-Gelinas says Ahmadi wanted to help her with her grocery bag, and insisted on it despite Hooper-Gelinas trying to dissuade him.
According to Hooper-Gelinas, Ahmadi approached her. They spoke briefly but when Ahmadi tried to put his jacket on her shoulders she started “flailing her arms,” trying to get him away from her. Hooper-Gelinas testified Ahmadi then “popped her right in the face with his fist.”
The woman fell to the ground, landing on her stomach.
Hooper-Gelinas says Ahmadi straddled her, and continued striking her in the face with his elbows and hands. Hooper-Gelinas says the woman looked at him and begged him, “Please help me? What’s your friend doing to me?” But “after a few blows” she was unresponsive, according to Hooper-Gelinas.
He told the court he tried to get him off her, but when he couldn’t he ran for help.
On cross examination by defence lawyer Patricia Brown, Hooper-Gelinas admitted in 2017 he had a substance abuse problem with both legal and illegal drugs and that he brought the mushrooms to the Ahmadi home that night.
Hooper-Gelinas denied being a drug dealer.
— with files from CTV Windsor's Michelle Maluske.