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Woman convicted of killing stepson wins reprieve to stay in Canada five years after she was ordered deported
A Jamaican woman ordered deported from Canada more than five years ago after she was convicted of killing her stepson has won a reprieve.
Nichelle Nikiss Rowe, who was stripped of the permanent residence status she obtained here in 2005 due to her second-degree murder conviction, applied to Federal Court for a stay of removal from Canada, which was scheduled for March 27.
Rowe argued successfully that the immigration officer who refused to stay her removal last November didn’t properly consider an expert report on how deportees are treated in Jamaica when he turned down her pre-removal risk assessment (PRRA) — Rowe’s last-ditch bid to stay in Canada — and her separate bid to regain her Canadian permanent resident status, based on humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) grounds.
Rowe “asserts that the officer failed to engage with a July 2021 expert report she had submitted in support of her applications concerning the treatment of deportees in Jamaica. This report, authored by Luke de Noronha, provides an analysis of various issues affecting deportees in Jamaica, including access to health care, housing, employment, vulnerability to violence, stigma, and the lack of resources, social assistance or programs,” according to the March 25 decision out of Toronto.
Justice Anne Turley sided with Rowe.
“As the Supreme Court has made clear, decision-makers must meaningfully engage with the key evidence and arguments of the parties,” the judge said.
“Here, however, the immigration officer fails to even mention the de Noronha Report which (Rowe) relied upon in support of her H&C and PRRA applications.”
In the decision on the latter, the immigration officer states Rowe “specified a risk as a deportee with no support network,” and lists the evidence she submitted “but there is no mention of the de Noronha Report,” said the judge.
On top of that, Turley found that Rowe “has also raised two other serious issues on the underlying H&C application. First, the immigration officer failed to address the alleged hardship (she) would face based on her medical conditions. In that regard, she submitted medical evidence from her primary care physician detailing the various medical conditions she suffers, including endometriosis, depression and anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The (October 2024) letter further explains the numerous medications she takes to manage her medical conditions.”
Rowe’s “community mental health care worker also provided a letter addressing the mental health counselling and case management supports she has been receiving since June 2024. As a victim of intimate partner violence, the letter states that with this counselling, (Rowe) has made great strides and the loss of these services ‘would have a profound negative impact’ on her mental and physical health.”
But the immigration officer “does not address any of this medical evidence in their H&C decision,” Turley said.
“Furthermore, the de Noronha Report addressed the lack of supports for mental health in Jamaica…. Again, the immigration officer could have discounted this evidence (the applicant’s own medical evidence and the expert report), if they did not agree, but they failed to even assess it.”
The court heard Rowe was sponsored by her then-husband, Garfield Boothe, when she was granted permanent residence in November 2005.
“Soon after her arrival in Canada, (Rowe) became a victim of domestic violence by her husband. The two separated on numerous occasions but reconciled in 2008.”
Her husband’s “son from a previous relationship came to live with them in Canada” the following year, said the decision.
“That child suffered prolonged abuse at the hands of his father, ultimately tragically resulting in the child’s death in May 2011.”
A Brampton jury heard in 2014 that her husband at the time, Garfield Boothe, would chain his 10-year-old son, Shakeil, to a bed. The Crown told the jury that Shakeil’s father took the boy out of Hanover Public School in January 2011 and would “discipline Shakeil by hitting him with a belt.” He only freed his son to use the washroom, shower and when family came to visit. Emergency personnel were called May 27, 2011, to the family’s Homeland Court home. Paramedics found Shakeil in his bed, cold to the touch and with white foam oozing from his mouth.
Jurors convicted Garfield Boothe and Nichelle Rowe — who then went by Nichelle Boothe-Rowe — of second-degree murder in the child’s death.
“While the trial judge found that there was little evidence that (Rowe) was involved in her stepson’s abuse, her failure to report her husband to the authorities resulted in her conviction,” Turley said.
A judge sentenced Rowe to life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 13 years.
She “was granted day parole in April 2024, and full parole in March 2025,” Turley said.
Based on her murder conviction, Rowe “was found inadmissible to Canada in November 2020,” said the judge’s decision.
“She lost her permanent resident status, and a deportation order was issued.”
This isn’t the first time Rowe dodged deportation. In April 2024, she applied for a PRRA. When it was subsequently refused, Rowe applied for a judicial review of that decision.
She was scheduled to be removed from Canada in December 2024, but Rowe went to court and argued successfully to stay that deportation.
Rowe “submitted new evidence with respect to her PRRA application, as well as an H&C application that had been filed in November 2024,” said the judge.
“By decisions dated November 14, 2025, the same immigration officer refused (Rowe’s) H&C and PRRA applications.”
She’s still waiting on judicial reviews of the immigration officer’s decisions.
In the H&C decision, “the immigration officer accepts that (Rowe) would face some challenges, but that ‘it would not be disproportionate to any individual returning there after living abroad for a significant period,’” said Turley’s decision.
“Yet the officer does not engage with the de Noronha Report, which addresses the particular circumstances faced by individuals like (Rowe), who have been deported and are returning to Jamaica, as opposed to the general challenges faced by those returning from abroad.”
It was open to the immigration officer “to discount or to give little weight to the de Noronha Report, but the officer had to have at least explained or determined the weight accorded to the evidence,” said the judge.
That’s what the immigration officer did with other aspects of Rowe’s evidence, Turley said.
“For example, the officer assigned little weight to the evidence adduced concerning the threats on Facebook from (Rowe’s) ex-husband’s family because she did not provide corroborating evidence or explain why she was unable to do so.”
The immigration officer assigned “significant negative weight” to Rowe’s “criminal history due to the nature of the incident,” said the judge. “However, in doing so, the officer failed to consider the circumstances leading to the offence, as well as (Rowe’s) ongoing rehabilitation efforts since.”
Rowe “has established that there are serious issues to be adjudicated in the underlying judicial review applications,” Turley said.
Lawyers for Immigration Minister Lena Diab “did not file any objective evidence that contradicted the findings of the de Noronha Report,” said the decision.
Turley was satisfied that Rowe “has established irreparable harm based on her profile as a deportee,” said the decision. “In addition, based on (Rowe’s) medical evidence and the de Noronha Report, she has established irreparable harm due to lack of access to mental health supports and treatment in Jamaica.”
There’s a serious issue “to be determined on the PRRA judicial review application regarding (Rowe’s) risk of returning to Jamaica as a deportee,” Turley said.
“If she is removed before her application is determined, there is a serious risk of injustice.”
The judge notes that immigration law dictates that “an enforceable removal order ‘must be enforced as soon as possible.’”
Turley said she also had to consider the “public interest of protecting the safety and security of Canadians.”
But “inadmissibility for serious criminality, while significant, is not dispositive,” said her decision.
Turley noted that the judge who stayed Rowe’s removal in 2024 “found that the balance of convenience weighs” in her favour, and that Rowe “has made sustained and intensive efforts to rehabilitate herself.”
Turley pointed out that Rowe’s parole officer described her as a “role model” in an October 2024 letter. “In addition, she was rated as low risk for general and violent recidivism,” in a March 2025 parole decision.
“Her case management team recommended full parole because (Rowe) ‘demonstrated a high level of compliance, motivation, and progress’ since being on day parole,” said the judge, noting Rowe started a Bachelor of Social Work program at Toronto Metropolitan University in September 2025.
“She has also been volunteering as a Crisis Line Counsellor at the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre since November 2025.”
Turley granted Rowe the stay she was looking for.
“The applicant shall not be removed from Canada until her application for leave and judicial review of the immigration officer’s negative PRRA decision, dated November 14, 2025, and of the officer’s negative H&C decision, dated November 14, 2025, have been finally determined.”
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