Man gets five years for knife attack, home invasion
KITCHENER — A young man who took part in a near-fatal knife attack in Cambridge and a violent home invasion in Kitchener has been sentenced to more than five years in prison.
Omar Safi’s defence lawyer painted his client’s crimes as out of character, but the judge disagreed.
“This is not out of character by any means for Omar Safi,” Justice John Lynch said, noting that Safi, now 22, was also convicted of robbery in 2014.
“This is who he is. This is the danger he presents to the community. This is the danger he presents to innocent, law-abiding individuals in the community.”
At last week’s sentencing, about 20 of Safi’s friends and family were in court to offer support.
The judge was unmoved. “It’s all well and good … that Mr. Safi has community support and family support,” Lynch said. “I don’t know how that helps the victims. I don’t know how that helps the community. It doesn’t.”
On Sept. 14, 2016, James Easton, Christopher Nichols and Zachary Meyer were at O’Briens Bar & Grill on Beverly Street in Cambridge. At 9:30 p.m., the three friends and the female bartender heard something hit the door and went out to investigate.
Someone had thrown a water bottle. Four men in a car parked outside the bar got into a verbal argument with the three men from the bar.
The men from the car began punching and kicking the trio. Easton found himself on the ground being kicked in the face.
“When he got up, Easton felt a sensation in his left side and saw one of the men from the car pull a knife out of him,” Crown prosecutor Brendan Thomas said. “Mr. Easton fell to one knee as he was bleeding profusely.
“He saw one of the unknown males standing over top of Nichols making what appeared to be a poking motion several times into Nichols’ back.”
Nichols was stabbed four times and robbed of $10.
The assailants casually walked back to their car and slowly drove off.
Nichols was treated in hospital and released. The knife wound to Easton left him in critical condition. He was put in an induced coma and spent more than a week in hospital.
“One would have to think long and hard to come up with an aggravated assault any more vicious than this,” Lynch said.
Thomas read out loud a victim impact statement from Easton.
“When I awoke after the surgery that had saved my life, I had approximately 70 staples holding my abdomen together as well as stitches inside my body holding my stomach shut,” he wrote.
“The physical scars I received that day are grotesque and hard to look at even now that they are
somewhat healed.”
Easton, a military reservist, said he led a healthy lifestyle before the stabbing. That changed.
“I pushed away everyone I love. It was just easier to be home by myself.”
Despite being gravely injured, Easton remembered the licence plate of the car, which helped police track down the assailants.
After one day in custody, Safi was released, “which I find amazing, quite frankly,” the judge said.
Safi went on to take part in a home invasion on the night of Sept. 14, 2017 — exactly one year after the knife attack.
Jeffrey Cousins came home to his residence on Fourth Avenue in Kitchener just before midnight and found the rear door broken. Inside, three men wearing black hoodies with the hoods up beat him. One pulled an imitation firearm.
Cousins, affiliated with a motorcycle club, told police the men stole seven kilograms of marijuana, a safe and sports collectibles.
The assailants, one of them Safi, were arrested a short time later. Found in the trunk of their car: a starter’s pistol, 16 kilograms of pot worth $87,000, a few hundred Percocet pills, an autographed football, other collectible items and two knives.
The discrepancy between the amount of pot Cousins reported stolen and the amount found in the trunk was not explained.
Who did what in the two sets of crimes hasn’t been proven but Safi admitted he was involved. Charges against other men are still before the courts.
Safi, who lives in Cambridge, apologized in court to the victims in both sets of crimes.
“I take full responsibility for what I did,” he said. “I was hanging out with some pretty bad people. I had no direction in my life and was headed down the wrong path.”
Safi vowed to take courses and counselling in jail and emerge a better person.
He told the judge he would not have committed the crimes had he been sober. He did not say whether he was drunk or high.
“There are lots of people in the community who are not sober all the time,” Lynch said. “They’re not out stabbing people. They’re not out committing home invasions. They’re not involved in robberies. That’s a decision he’s made. That’s who he is.”
Lynch agreed to a joint submission from Thomas and defence lawyer Tom Brock for a sentence of five years and seven months, but said it is at the low end of the spectrum.
“He could well be going into custody for double-digit years today with respect to these matters. Five years is not by any means the cap within respect to this.”
Both the Crown and defence said denunciation and deterrence are important sentencing principles. They didn’t mention protection of the public, the judge said.
“There’s some people, quite frankly, who need to be incarcerated in order to protect the public,” Lynch said, adding Safi will likely commit crimes unless he’s behind bars.
Safi pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, robbery, using an imitation firearm in a robbery, possession of marijuana in excess of three kilograms for the purpose of trafficking, and breaking a court order. With enhanced credit for presentence custody, Safi has another five years to serve. He was also handed a lifetime weapons ban and ordered to give a DNA sample.