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Turning to the crying mother of the deceased in the courtroom, the judge said she put a lot of thought and care into her decision. “I am very sorry … that the system has let you down.”

Nayel’s father, Amine, muttered “shame on all of you” as he left the courtroom with his weeping wife.

Nayel’s mother, Nicole, said the decision left her devastated.

“What kind of message does this send? That you can (allegedly) kill someone and get away with it … What kind of judge would do this? The system isn’t fair,” she said after Picard was set free.

Photo by Errol McGihon / Postmedia

When Picard was arrested in 2012, Nayel’s mom had said she hoped only for one thing: “I want justice.”

Years later, standing outside the Elgin Street courthouse, she was still screaming for justice. She told the Citizen her family no longer celebrates special occasions, as there’s nothing to celebrate without her son. She said she wanted everyone to hear her voice, and to know that the justice system miserably failed her son.

She also accused Picard of playing the system by firing lawyers to cause delays in the case.

Picard fired his original lawyer and the next two lawyers he wanted ended up having conflicts of interest, which led to delays.

However, Lawrence Greenspon — the lawyer who represented Picard on Tuesday — said one of the major reasons the trial was delayed was because the Crown opposed a previous motion to expedite the case getting to trial in 2015. The court sided with the Crown. And Justice Parfett said further delays were caused by the “heavy caseloads” of the Crowns involved in Picard’s case.