Mothers of victim, killer in road-rage tragedy tearfully embrace outside courtroom ‘Both of us are in the same boat, except my son is gone forever and she will get her son back at some point’ By: Dean Pritchard Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Thursday, Mar. 30, 2023

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This article was published 30/03/2023 (891 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

United in grief, two mothers embraced and shared tears outside a Winnipeg courtroom Thursday after the son of one of the women admitted to killing the other woman’s son in what police at the time described as a fatal case of road rage.

Rahim Ahmadzai, 21, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, admitting he stabbed 43-year-old Ryan Kelly Legary to death July 23, 2020, after a driving dispute and argument that escalated quickly in a parking lot shared by a Tim Hortons restaurant and Petro-Canada gas bar at Fermor Avenue and Lagimodiere Boulevard.

“She’s a mother, I’m a mother,” Legary’s mother Wendy McMillan said minutes later. “Both of us are in the same boat, except my son is gone forever and she will get her son back at some point.”

“She’s a mother, I’m a mother… Both of us are in the same boat, except my son is gone forever and she will get her son back at some point.”–Wendy McMillan, Legary’s mother

Ahmadzai was “a stupid kid,” McMillan said. “He was 18, he made a mistake… I’m a nurse — I worked at St. Boniface Hospital for 20 years — I have compassion, I understand, but I’m not going to get my son back because of this one mistake.

“I’m angry, I’m pissed off, but I’m happy for it to be done, for there to be a resolution and justice for my son.”

Ahmadzai’s guilty plea Thursday came after two days of testimony in a scheduled nine-day jury trial.

Crown attorney Mark Kantor provided Court of King’s Bench Justice Candace Grammond with a brief review of the facts as accepted by Ahmadzai before she accepted his guilty plea.

Court heard Legary was behind the wheel of his girlfriend’s Chevrolet Equinox at about 5:20 p.m., attempting to turn off Lagimodiere Boulevard and into the Tim Hortons parking lot at the same time Ahmadzai was in the passenger seat of a Nissan Cube stopped behind a long line of cars in the opposing lane of traffic.

As Legary made a move to cross the opposite lane of traffic, “the red Cube pulled forward making it difficult for Mr. Legary to make that turn,” Kantor said. “This resulted in Mr. Legary pumping his horn and the Nissan vehicle honking in return. Both Legary and the accused were yelling and gesturing profanities back and forth.”

Legary navigated the gap in front of Ahmadzai’s vehicle and the two men continued “yelling and gesturing at one another” as Legary made his way to the parking lot, Kantor said. Ahmadzai’s vehicle followed Legary and parked directly beside him.

Security video captured Legary getting out of his vehicle and punching Ahmadzai in the face as he remained sitting in the passenger seat of his car.

Legary backed away and was continuing to gesture at Ahmadzai and his driver when Ahmadzai exited the Nissan with a utility knife and stabbed Legary once in the chest, Kantor said.

Legary walked backwards to the gas bar, where he collapsed next to one of the pumps.

Ahmadzai and his companion immediately drove away. Jurors heard the Nissan Cube was registered to Ahmadzai’s sister.

The guilty plea came after jurors heard testimony blood matching Legary’s DNA profile and DNA matching Ahmadzai’s profile were both found in the front passenger area of the vehicle, and cellphone-tower evidence establishing that a device associated with Ahmadzai was in the vicinity at the time Legary was stabbed.

McMillan described her son as a loud, full-of-life character who “sang all day long.”

“If you were mad at him or he was mad at you, you sure knew it — but he forgave right away,” McMillan said. “He was very quick if he did something wrong to say, ‘I’m at fault here.’”

“If you were mad at him or he was mad at you, you sure knew it — but he forgave right away… He was very quick if he did something wrong to say, ‘I’m at fault here.’”–Wendy McMillan, Legary’s mother

At Legary’s memorial, “at least 30 people came up to me to say he was their best friend,” she said.

Ahmadzai will return to court Sept. 8 for sentencing.

Sentences for manslaughter have the widest range in the Criminal Code, from a suspended sentence or probation to life in prison.

Ahmadzai remains free on bail.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca

Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter

Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.

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