Month: January 2021

FEATURED PHOTO: Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens says he approached the court to ask if he could write the community impact statement. (Sanjay Maru/CBC)

Written by Jacob Barker on January 19, 2021

The decision of Mayor Drew Dilkens to insert his voice into the sentencing hearing of a man convicted second degree murder for brutally beating of a senior on the Ganatchio Trail in October of 2017 is being questioned by some within the legal community.

“I offer these remarks on behalf of the entire city for whom I am elected to lead,” the statement written by Dilkens read.

In October of 2017, Sara Anne Widholm was brutally attacked and beaten on the Ganatchio Trail — she died over a year later. In December, after a two-week trial,  24-year-old Habibullah Ahmadi, who admitted to using cannabis and magic mushrooms the day of the crime, was convicted of second degree murder in her death.

Read the full article: CBC News Windsor

FEATURED PHOTO: “Shocked this community to the core.” A plaque lies next to a memorial bench and tree at Little River Corridor Park near the location on the Ganatchio Trail where Sara Anne Widholm was attacked. PHOTO BY NICK BRANCACCIO /Windsor Star

Written by Brian Cross on January 21, 2021

Mayor Drew Dilkens is making no apologies for weighing in on the senseless and brutal murder of 75-year-old Sara Anne Widholm as she was taking her daily litter-picking walk on the Ganatchio Trail.

“I made the submission, I have no regrets doing it and I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” Dilkens said in response to criticism of of his submitting a community impact statement to the sentencing hearing for Habibullah “Danny” Ahmadi.

Ahmadi was found guilty in November of second-degree murder for — while high on marijuana and magic mushrooms — randomly attacking Widholm in October 2017. The beating put Widholm into a coma from which she never recovered and sparked community outrage. She died in hospital 14 months later.

Read the full article: Windsor Star