Four Surrey children are one step closer to being reunited with their parents after nearly four years in foster care.
The B.C. Supreme Court has ordered a new trial for Muzzammil and Muhammad Attiq-Ur Rahman, in their fight to regain custody of their children.
“The Pakistani community and all our family are very happy,” the children’s father, Muhammad Attiq-Ur Rahman, said Thursday.
He said he did not want to comment further until the case is resolved.
Robert Hamilton, who represented the father in the case, said “[both parents] are pleased with the outcome, they are going to work cooperatively to try and get these children home.”
The four Rahman children (now 10, nine, seven and six) were removed from the custody of their parents in 2005 after their two-year-old cousin died while in their mother’s care.
“There was no suggestion of any abuse of any of the children,” said Matthew Nathanson, who represented the mother in the Supreme Court appeal. “The sole reason for them being apprehended was the death of the niece.”
According to court documents, the two-year-old girl fell from a chair while eating and hit her head. Muzzammil Rahman was in the washroom at the time, but her four young children witnessed the fall and alerted her.
When she found the child unconscious and not breathing, the mother, who spoke limited English and had no transportation, immediately took the child to a neighbour.
The neighbour found pieces of waffle in the child’s mouth and throat, removed it and called 911.
“On the 911 call, you can hear the child choking,” said Nathanson.
Although the child had a pre-existing medical condition and the mother immediately sought medical help, she was charged with manslaughter.
In May of 2008, she was acquitted.
“My client was found not guilty by an experienced judge who carefully reviewed all of the complex evidence in this case,” said Nathanson.
After the acquittal, the parents immediately began court proceedings to get their children back.
However, Surrey Provincial Court Judge Marilynn Borowicz determined, in spite of the acquittal, that the child who died was a victim of “severe, sustained, and unexplained child abuse.”
She ruled the Rahman children should stay in foster care.
In his judgment overturning Borowicz, Justice Grant Burnyeat said she had made “a critical omission” in her ruling by not giving an explanation for how she arrived at her conclusions.
In a scathing report, he wrote, “There is a complete failure to either review or analyze any of the expert evidence.”
It was on the basis of this failure that Burnyeat overturned Borowicz’s ruling.
Hamilton and Nathanson said their clients will work cooperatively with all parties with the objective of having their children returned home.
Pakistani skier Mohammad Abbas became the first man in the country’s history to qualify for the the Winter Olympics, to be held from Feb 12 in Vancouver, Canada. A ceremony was arranged at the Canadian High Commission in Islamabad to honour Abbas. Canadian High Commissioner Randolph Mank, office-bearers of the ski federation, Abbas, politicians and diplomats attended the ceremony in large number.
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7. February 2010
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