A trial has been delayed for the family of a man found in a landfill

An Ontario family who has waited three years for a trial in the alleged murder of a loved one has been told they will have to wait another year.

Nathaniel Brettell's brother and sister told CTV News that a lawyer's scheduling conflict has delayed Ahmed al-Farkh's April 29 trial and that the next available date in Toronto Superior Court is March 2025.

“My life was on hold for three years,” Lois Brettell said in an interview. “I'm suffering from survivor's guilt. Now, with another year on top of that, I'm not in a good place.”

Brettell disappeared from her home in Etobicoke in 2021. Two officers who searched for him were stabbed and sent to the hospital.

Police searched for the 57-year-old man and eventually found his remains at a landfill near London, Ontario.

Brettell's former roommate, Al Farh, 34, who is currently in custody, is charged in the case. His online posts describe his time in Toronto asylums, making references to the Freemasons and the Illuminati.

Brettell's brother and sister waited three years for the trial to begin on April 29. According to them, the next date is March 17, 2025.

Farkh's lawyer, Boris Baitensky, admitted that the latest delay was due to his work schedule. But he said the delay charges could not be dropped because of the delay defense initiative.

Not so in several other cases in which Toronto Superior Court judges have been delayed by overriding the slow federal process for appointing judges that have left vacancies on the bench.

Ontario NDP justice critic Christine Wong-Tam said the province has plenty of physical courtrooms, but the main problem is a lack of court staff. He said the latest report reduced the average number of hours each courtroom was used per day.

“When we have an overfunded and underfunded court system, these problems persist and we have record backlogs,” he said.

“The next available courtroom hearing will be denied in a year,” he said.

The provincial Attorney General's Office did not respond to a request for comment.

A spokesman for federal Justice Minister Arif Virani said the government has appointed 111 judges to Canada's highest courts in the past 12 months and new measures are in place to streamline the process.

“All actors in the justice system and all levels of government must work to provide justice in a timely manner. Our government is doing its duty and will continue to do so urgently,” spokeswoman Chantal Aubertin said.