A Toronto man who mortally stabbed a stranger to a TTC The metro station was sentenced to life prison without any chance of parole for 18 years.
Jordan O’Brien-Tobin, 24, was sentenced to his sentence by the judge of the Superior Court Jane Kelly in a downtown courtroom on Friday, almost two years after the murder of Gabriel Magalhaes, 16, in 2023.
O’Brien-Tobin pleaded guilty to a second degree murder in November 2024. The accusation brings an automatic life imprisonment, but in question, the period of ineligibility for parole between 10 and 25 years. THE The crown had asked For a period of 18 years, while the defense was looking for 12 years.
“It was random and it was an act of self -centered violence. If Gabriel had not been there that day, someone else’s friend, her son, could have been the victim of the insane crime of Mr. O’Brien-Tobin, “said Kelly.
“It seemed planned. Mr. O’Brien-Tobin seems likely to recur. It is a danger to our community. »»
According to a declaration of de facto agreed read in court, on March 25, 2023, Gabriel was at the metro station in Keele with a friend on the way back when he was approached by O’Brien-Tobin and stabbed on the chest.
The court heard O’Brien-Tobin watched Gabriel and his friend after having first spotted while waiting for a train. He looked at the boys while they sat on a bench, left the station and watched them while they were crossing a set of automatic doors before approaching, reaching his backpack and stabbing it.
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Gabriel’s friend and two passers -by tried to provide first aid until the arrival of paramedical paramedics. Gabriel was transported urgently to the hospital by an emergency race, but was declared dead at 9:46 p.m., an autopsy revealed that a single stab wounded the chest the left lung, the pericardium and the heart of Gabriel, causing his death.
About 20 minutes later, O’Brien-Tobin entered the emergency room of St. Joseph’s Health Center. The police found him sitting in the emergency room, where he was arrested.
His backpack was seized and examined medico-legal. Blood on one of the interior compartments had belonged to Gabriel. The knife has never been located.
A forensic examination was also completed on the mobile phone of O’Brien-Tobin. The police discovered that he sent messages to his girlfriend, his friends and his mother before and after the murder.
The messages understood “someone dying the TN”, “I just stabbed someone at random” and “I stabbed someone and I got out”.
Kelly told the Court that O’Brien-Tobin is a repeat offender and that his criminal record and his history show that he is unmanageable, uncontrollable and dangerous.
The judge said that he had nearly 200 convictions on his file, including several offenses for crimes of violence. She noted that he had shown a total disdain for judicial orders and was in probation when he committed this offense.
“Two weeks after being convicted and released from the guard for sexually assaulting a rider in a Toronto metro, Mr. O’Brien-Tobin committed this murder in a TTC station,” said Kelly.
Kelly said on Friday that Gabriel’s murder had “devastating consequences” for several people.
“It was an act of random violence required on a 16 -year -old foreigner. The consequences of the murder of Gabriel are indescribably tragic for his family, “said Kelly.
In a declaration of impact on the victim read before the court earlier this month, Magalhaes’ mother wrote about the indescribable sadness and despair that she has felt since her loss of son that day.
“It takes every force that I must continue to live,” wrote Andrea Magalhaes.
“I failed the most important work of my existence: to ensure the safety of my son. I fear for the life of my son Lucas, I fear for all the children there. If only love alone could protect our children. I can never feel safe again. I will never sleep peacefully at night again.
Jordan O’Brien-Tobin (left) and Gabriel Magalhaes are seen in an un dated collage. On Wednesday, O’Brien-Tobin pleaded guilty to the Muder in the second degree of Gabriel in March 2023.
World news / supplied
Kelly also talked about the broader impact of the incident on Friday.
“His murder had a scary effect on members of the community in general, and in particular those who access the TTC,” said Kelly.
“It shocked our community and made runners in the metro dangerous.”
The stab wounds took place at a time when violence on the TTC network made the headlines. At the time, the TTC said that it would spend $ 5 million to improve security following a series of violent incidents, including stabs, BB gunfire and an alleged swarm.
The measures included an increase in the presence of special constables, supervisors, trained community security ambassadors and awareness teams.
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