Memorial to slain Hamilton man rebuilt

Francesa Rapino got what she wanted. The memorial to her son has been rebuilt. Her family and community rallied around her.

But if she could, she'd would be alone with her tears.

I am putting on a face," Rapino said late Sunday afternoon while her daughter worked on finishing the memorial on Barton Street East, not far from where Mario Rogers, Rapino's son, was killed in December 2021.

If I had my way, I would be at home crying. As a mother, this is hard, you know?"

Rogers, a 22-year-old mechanic and labourer, was allegedly intentionally run over in the parking lot of the apartment building at 2520 Barton St. E. Rogers and his mother lived in apartments nearby.

Junaid Mohamed Nizami, a resident of the apartment building, faces a second-degree murder charge in connection with Rogers' death.

He was granted bail last week. Superior Court Justice John Krawchenko ordered a strict house arrest for Nizami as part of a long list of conditions, which include 24-hour supervision and a combined $140,000 bond posted by his sureties.

Police say Nizami and Rogers got into a dispute the night of the killing. During that dispute, Rogers was run over and died at the scene.

Rapino built a memorial for her son in the parking lot of the building shortly after he was killed.

However, the company that owns the building, Golden Equity out of Montreal, told her to take it down because it was not an appropriate location for a memorial. Rapino's family launched a petition to save the memorial, but the building management did not change its mind.

About a week after we started the petition, I got a call from the city," Rapino said.

She said Ward 5 councillor Russ Powers was on the phone and he helped her find a new location for the memorial - on a strip of city land in front of the apartment building.

Powers could not be immediately reached Sunday when the family unveiled the new memorial.

The wooden memorial - surrounded by a small green fence and featuring flowers and solar lights - was cemented into the ground and will eventually include a memorial tree.

This way his memory won't be forgotten," said Rapino.

Grant LaFleche is an investigative reporter with The Spectator. Reach him via email: glafleche@torstar.ca