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Canadian Diplomat's Teen Son Denied Bail in Miami Drug Murder Case

Marc Wabafiyebazu, 15, faces a first-degree felony murder charge related to a botched marijuana deal that led to a gunfight that killed his older brother and a local Miami teenager on March 30.
Photo by Colin Perkel/The Canadian Press

On Wednesday morning, a Miami judge denied bail to Canadian teen Marc Wabafiyebazu, the son of Canada's consul general in Miami, arguing the risk he would escape the country is too great.

"It seems highly unlikely were Mr. Wabafiyebazu to flee to Canada — where his mother has family, and his father lives — the United States would be able to bring him back," the Miami-Dade Circuit judge said when she gave her decision, according to the Miami Herald.

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The 15-year-old from Ottawa, Ontario has been held in a Miami adult jail where he will remain pending his trial in July when he will face first-degree felony murder and other criminal charges related to a botched marijuana deal that led to a gunfight that killed his older brother and a local Miami teenager on March 30.

Wabafiyebazu has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Because he will be tried as an adult, he could be sentenced to life without parole if he is found guilty.

He and his brother Jean — who was 18 when he died — moved from Ottawa to Miami just a few weeks earlier, in January, to join their mother, Roxanne Dubé, formerly Canada's ambassador to Zimbabwe.

During the exhaustive bail hearing last week, Wabafiyebazu sat in the Miami courtroom in a brown jumpsuit and rested his handcuffed wrists in his lap.

Reporters live-tweeted every intimate detail of the hearing, and photos of him and those who testified were plastered all over news outlets and social media.

Dube: Marc is dyslexic and has trouble translating words to writing. Was diagnosed at age 7.

— David Ovalle (@DavidOvalle305)May 29, 2015

Over the course of the two-day hearing, Wabafiyebazu listened as Miami police officers told the court about that bloody Monday afternoon when he and his brother Jean skipped school and drove their mother's BMW sedan — outfitted with consular license plates — to the apartment of a drug dealer.

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Surveillance footage screened in court shows Wabafiyebazu waiting in the passenger seat while his brother went inside, allegedly planning to steal more than $4,000 worth of marijuana. After hearing gunshots and running up the street, Marc is seen surrendering to police who arrived shortly after the shootout.

According to reporters in court, Wabafiyebazu wept as his mother Roxanne Dubé, Canada's consul general to Miami, took the stand and told the court she is convinced of his innocence and that he's the son every parent would want to have.

For Canadians, it's jarring to see such details about a youth facing criminal charges, because if he were charged at home, it would, in most cases, be illegal to publish his name or anything else that could reveal his identity — let alone photos of him and his mother in court.

Moreover, felony murder hasn't been a crime in Canada since 1990, when the Supreme Court struck it down.

Under Canada's Youth Justice Act, youth under 18 charged with a crime usually go through a separate court system and face lighter sentences than if they were convicted as an adult. Strict publication bans protect the identity of youngsters charged or convicted of crimes by prohibiting media from releasing their names and restricting access to their court records.

But in Florida, and indeed most states, such publication bans do not exist.

"What Canadians have always tried to do is reduce the harmful effects of the criminal justice system on people. And we don't want to stigmatize kids forever," Anthony Doob, a criminology professor at the University of Toronto told VICE News.

"But in the US, it's about the public having a right to know, the right to be in court, and the right to make that information available."

Doob points out that until 1984, the Canadian public wasn't even allowed to attend court hearings involving youth.

Now, even if Wabafiyebazu is acquitted, these charges will likely follow him for the rest of his life.

Follow Rachel Browne on Twitter@rp_browne