A man convicted of ripping off a rival’s gold chain in Toronto over a $100 debt and slashing his face with a knife has convinced a jury that he stabbed his victim to death in self-defence and will serve just 21 more months behind bars, though the judge said a longer sentence could “easily be justified.”
A jury in Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice convicted Tamar Enoch Cupid last fall for the 2023 robbery and aggravated assault of Ifeanyichukwu Gabby Oseke in the Knob Hill Plaza, but found him not guilty of manslaughter.
The jury “accepted, or at least had a reasonable doubt as to whether, the accused caused the death of Mr. Oseke in lawful self-defence,” Justice Kenneth Campbell wrote in a recent decision.
“Nevertheless, it must be said that the accused personally started the series of events that eventually led to the death of the deceased.”
The court heard that Cupid, his girlfriend and another friend identified only as O arrived at the plaza near the intersection of Brimley Road and Eglinton Avenue East on June 25, 2023, in a black BMW sedan.
Oseke was sitting in the front passenger seat of a black sport utility vehicle parked in the plaza.
Cupid approached Oseke and chatted with him briefly.
“This conversation may have been about a $100 debt that the accused claimed was owed to him by Mr. Oseke,” said the judge.
“During this brief conversation, the accused reached into the SUV and ripped off the gold chain from around the neck of Mr. Oseke. This led to Mr. Oseke getting out of the SUV, and onto the sidewalk, engaging in further conversation with the accused and picking up some of the broken pieces of his gold necklace from the ground.”
That’s when O punched Oseke in the face, retreated to the BMW and drove away.
“Mr. Oseke then drove the SUV after the BMW, almost striking the accused in the parking lot in the process. After pursuing this unknown man briefly in the black SUV, Mr. Oseke returned to the plaza, parking the SUV in, essentially, the same location as before.”
After Oseke got out of the SUV, Cupid “immediately slashed” his face “with a knife that he had surreptitiously taken from his pants pocket and held at his side,” said the judge.
“This knife slash cut Mr. Oseke under his left eye across his left cheek and into his nose. This immediately resulted in a fairly lengthy physical confrontation between Mr. Oseke and the accused, with the accused continuing to stab at Mr. Oseke with his knife. At the conclusion of this lengthy confrontation, as the accused was trying to escape with his girlfriend, the accused stabbed Mr. Oseke in the chest with his knife, ultimately killing him.”
The Crown recommended Cupid get four years in prison. His lawyer argued for less.
Cupid, now 28, had served 494 days (just over 16 months) behind bars before his sentencing, according to the June 16 decision.
The judge sentenced him to four years in prison but he gave Cupid 2.5 months of credit for “particularly harsh pre-sentence conditions” at the Toronto South Detention Centre. He also credited Cupid with 1.5 days of imprisonment for each day of pre-sentence custody.
“Having already served the functional equivalent of 2 years and 3 months of imprisonment, that results in the functional global equivalent of a 4-year penitentiary term of imprisonment,” Campbell said.
When he slashed Oseke’s face, Cupid was under a weapons ban for a previous stabbing.
Four years “is the most lenient sentence that can, in good conscience, be imposed upon this accused,” said the judge. “In fact, a longer penitentiary term could easily be justified.”
Cupid, who is Black, obtained a report meant to detail the impact race and culture had on him. It described an unhappy early home life where his father abused his mother “while she struggled with drug addiction.”
They lived in Lawrence Heights, “an area that was ‘marred by violence.’ According to Mr. Cupid, as a child he witnessed people in his neighbourhood being ‘shot and killed.’”
His father was deported to Trinidad when Cupid was eight, said the report, which notes Cupid “grew up without a significant, positive, adult male role model.”
At 15, Cupid “was a victim in a random ‘drive-by’ shooting, which he survived, but with ‘life altering injuries,’” it said, noting “his breathing was adversely affected, as one of the bullets punctured one of his lungs.”
Cupid “apparently suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD),” said the report.
It suggests that the “multiple traumatic events” over Cupid’s lifetime, including the “poverty, community violence, racialized policing and family disruption” he suffered, “may have ‘shaped his behaviour, emotional responses and life trajectories over time.’”
Cupid’s “life experience reflects the complex intersection of individual experiences and broader structural conditions,” said the report. “His narrative illustrates how childhood exposure to poverty, community violence, family disruption, trauma and racialized surveillance can contribute to long term psychological and social impacts.”
Cupid’s “difficult life” and past traumas “cannot (and does not) excuse his violent criminal conduct on this (or any other) occasion,” Campbell said. “Indeed, the fact that his unfortunate background may cause him to overreact to situations as a result of his paranoia and perceive danger to his safety where others simply would not, does not serve as an excuse for his spontaneous violence. Rather, his circumstances simply illustrate how inherently dangerous the accused continues to be to others, until he takes all of the necessary rehabilitative steps to overcome these problems.”
Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.
