A Toronto mother acquitted of murdering her disabled teenage daughter has launched a staggering $10 million lawsuit against the police who pursued her for 13 years.
Cindy Ali, along with her husband Allan, filed the bomb claim eight months after her emotional acquittal for the death of their 16-year-old daughter Cynara, as reported by the Toronto star.
The lawsuit alleged that Toronto police were “determined to convict her” during their brutal year-long investigation.
The incident occurred on February 19, 2011, when Ali made a panicked 911 call claiming that two masked men had invaded her Scarborough townhouse.
A Toronto mother acquitted of murdering her disabled teenage daughter (pictured) has launched a staggering $10 million lawsuit against the police who pursued her for 13 years.
The lawsuit claims Toronto police were ‘determined to convict her’ during their brutal year-long investigation (her daughter in photo)
When first responders arrived, they found Cynara, who suffered from cerebral palsy, “without vital signs.”
But what followed was a nightmare that would lead to Ali being convicted of first-degree murder.
She was sentenced to life in prison before eventually being acquitted in a dramatic retrial that left even the judge unsure of “the truth of the matter.”
Detective Frank Skubic is accused of refusing to believe Ali’s home invasion story and instead quickly developing a theory that she “made up the home invasion story to cover up her involvement in Cynara’s death,” according to The Star.
However, Ali claims in her lawsuit that the authorities’ subsequent investigation into the invasion failed.
“The investigation into the home invasion was conducted to discredit the fact of it,” the filing alleges. “Officers took little care in securing the scene in the hours after the event, and the forensic team failed to take fingerprints or DNA samples from several surfaces that Cindy said the intruders touched.”
When first responders arrived, they found Cynara, who suffered from cerebral palsy, ‘without vital functions’
The lawsuit claims that police may have placed a mysterious letter in the Ali family’s mailbox, allegedly from the ‘home invaders’ claiming they ‘had the wrong house’
The lawsuit alleged that police may have placed a mysterious letter in the Ali family’s mailbox, allegedly from the “home invaders” who claimed they had been “given the wrong house.”
“Plaintiffs suspect, in light of subsequent events, that it was fabricated and posted by (Toronto Police) at Skubic’s direction,” the lawsuit alleged.
In addition, undercover officers allegedly staged a fake competition at a mall, offering Ali’s other daughter a trip to Niagara Falls – all to gain secret access to the family’s home and surveillance equipment.
“None of the months of surveillance, phone intercepts or internal investigations were presented as evidence against Cindy at her retrial in 2023,” the claims filed were a result of the invasive investigation.
The lawsuit named the City of Toronto, the Toronto Police Services Board, former homicide detective Frank Skubic and Toronto Fire Chief Semahj Bujokas as defendants, the outlet said.
But what followed was a nightmare that would lead to Ali being convicted of first-degree murder
Toronto Fire Chief Semahj Bujokas was also accused of kicking Ali at the scene and displaying “aggressive behavior” that shocked other first responders.
“There are no footprints, don’t make fun of me,” the firefighter said.
The investigation, dubbed “Project Litoria,” involved intercepting the communications of more than two dozen people, tracking the family’s movements and even referencing the infamous case of Robert Latimer, a Saskatchewan farmer convicted of the murder of his disabled daughter in 1993.
But the situation did not end with Ali’s arrest.
Toronto Fire Chief Semahj Bujokas was also accused of kicking Ali at the scene and displaying “aggressive behavior” that shocked other first responders.
She spent four years behind bars, during which time she claims to have attempted suicide twice.
It was not until 2021 that her conviction was overturned on appeal, leading to the retrial in which she was ultimately acquitted in January 2024.
The lawsuit seeks as much as $8 million from Skubic and the Toronto Police Services Board for negligent investigation and false imprisonment.
The filing also seeks an additional $2 million from the City of Toronto and Bujokas for a litany of alleged misdeeds, including injuries and abuse of power.