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Omar Rashid-Ghader spent his last day in life cooking steak and pasta for a family movie night at home with his wife and three young children.
The movie was Finding Dory, a film they had seen together at the theatre on Rashid-Ghader's last Father's Day weekend in 2016.
His phone kept ringing because his friends were at a ByWard Market nightclub to celebrate a birthday. There was an out-of-town performer in the house too.
Rashid-Ghader, 33, was on the fence about going, and after helping tuck in two of his sons, his wife told him to go out and have fun with the boys.
It was just before midnight. Three hours and 20 minutes later her husband would be dead on the floor of the now-defunct Sentral nightclub on Dalhousie Street.
On Thursday, at the second-degree murder trial of Mustafa Ahmed, Rashid-Ghader's widow, Amina Mohamed, gave emotional testimony portraying her dead husband as a loving father who joked around and never drank in the house.
She said she feels misplaced guilt for telling him to go out, and broke down when assistant Crown Attorney Matthew Geigen-Miller showed the court family photos.
“I'm the one who sent him out there,” she told Ottawa court.
Ahmed, 32, has admitted to a series of facts, including that he shot and killed Rashid-Ghader at the nightclub on the morning of Aug. 14, 2016. He shot him twice in the chest, with one of the hollow-point bullets piercing his heart. It was the fatal wound, court heard.
Ottawa police never found the second shell casing or the handgun, court heard.
Prosecutors have not established a motive for the argument that turned physical when Rashid- Ghader grabbed Ahmed from behind and then swung a bottle at his head.
They grew up together, had the same friends and their families celebrated occasions together.
They considered one another extended family, and would hug when greeting.
Asked if there was any animosity between her husband and Ahmed, Mohamed said no.
She said the last time she saw her husband and Ahmed it was outside a grocery store. They were hugging, laughing and talking about taking their children to a swimming pool together.
Rashid- Ghader's widow also testified that while her husband had trouble with the law in the past, he never ended up in jail since they got married and had children.
The killing was captured on security video that was shown in court. They were fighting and wrestling on the floor when the gun was fired twice.
In the footage, Ahmed is seen standing up from the floor after the shooting and walking out of the bar past security staff.
Ahmed then hailed a cab and lived as a fugitive for 18 months before his arrest in Toronto.
The prosecution's opening statements earlier this week at the judge-alone trial did not mention a motive.
The Crown's case is anchored in security footage that captured the fight and shooting, but it's grainy and the camera didn't catch all the angles.
There's also no audio.