Guilty plea for man who murdered his ex
Lascelles Allen fatally stabbed mother of three, then jumped in front of Via train
A Toronto man who fatally stabbed his ex-girlfriend, leaving her bloodied body on the kitchen floor for her children to find, was sentenced to life imprisonment Tuesday with no parole eligibility for 18 years.
Lascelles Allen, 54, was supposed to stand trial for first-degree murder this month but instead pleaded guilty in December to the seconddegree murder of Suraiya Gangaram, 31, a mother of three young girls.
The pair’s romantic involvement ended in August 2014 when police charged Allen with assaulting her. He was released on a recognizance to a surety and ordered not to have any contact with Gangaram, according to an agreed statement of facts.
Despite the court order, they continued to have contact although Gangaram had begun a new relationship.
On the evening of May 7, 2015, Allen, Gangaram and her three daughters went to see a musical. They returned to her home on Danzig St. in Scarborough and Gangaram went out with her new boyfriend, leaving Allen to mind the girls.
The next day, while they were at school, Allen stabbed Gangaram multiple times in the chest. He also committed an indignity to her body that Superior Court Justice John McMahon called degrading and “heinous.”
Later that afternoon, Allen threw himself in front of a Via Rail train at a GO station, severing his lower legs.
Police found evidence that Allen was planning a violent act. Earlier in the day, he bought duct tape, three cable ties, bungee cords, rope, dis- posable lighters and lighter fluid.
Crown attorney Maureen Pecknold referred to it as a “murder kit.” Defence counsel Paula Rochman said “it might also have been a suicide kit.” The two lawyers, however, agreed on an18-year parole eligibility period. The range for second-degree murder is 10 to a maximum of 25 years before an offender can apply.
McMahon said an aggravating factor of the crime was the fact that Allen continued to see Gangaram.
“While I recognize that the victim was also a party to the breach, nevertheless the accused elected to blatantly disregard the court order that was put in place to protect the victim,” McMahon said. Allen declined to address the court. He sat in his wheelchair with his head bowed as Pecknold read a half- dozen heart-wrenching victim impact statements from family.
The identities of Gangaram’s three daughters are covered under a publication ban. They were 6, 8 and 14 when she was killed.
Only the eldest, who discovered her mother’s body, read her statement.
Now 16, she described to a hushed court how the murder turned the family’s world “upside down,” the tragedy made worse by the fact the killer was a father figure.
“Losing my mom, my best friend, the only parent I had, losing my home, losing my self, I couldn’t focus, I couldn’t think straight, I couldn’t go to school,” she said reading from her victim impact statement. “I felt drained, weak and helpless. I felt like it was my fault. I felt like the whole world was crashing down on me.”