mandel: halloween frat house killer should be sentenced to just six years, lawyer says
could a young man’s life really be worth so little? wit...
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could a young man’s life really be worth so little? with his family, firdaws nabizada came to this country from afghanistan and grew up in flemingdon park where he graduated marc garneau collegiate, had a slew of friends, and was a star on the soccer pitch.
on that halloween night of 2019, the 19-year-old had gone with a friend to the annex to see a haunted house and ended up outside a madison ave. frat house that had been rented out for a party with scores of people waiting to get in.
“he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time,” says his sister salima.
jacob alves, also 19, had come to the frat house armed with at least one three-inch bladed knife and when he and a 15-year-old girlfriend were kicked out of the costume party, he went on a wild slashing spree, stabbing people both inside and outside the house, ending up on the sidewalk where he plunged his blade through nabizada’s heart.
as the night echoed with screams.
an image from video of a knife attack at a annex frat house.
in july 2023, a jury acquitted alves of second-degree murder and instead convicted him of manslaughter, perhaps buying his testimony that the construction worker was too drunk at the time to know what he was doing. he was also found guilty on six assault-related charges.
now his lawyer sid freeman is asking superior court justice kelly byrne to sentence the now-24-year-old to just six years in prison — and then deduct credit for pre-sentence custody, which would set him free in no time.
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how outrageous that would be.
crown attorneys scott patterson and craig brannagan have urged byrne to sentence alves to 12 years for the fatal stabbing and a consecutive five years for his convictions on the assault charges.
how enraging it was for the family to hear the defence lawyer recast that halloween night of horrors as somehow the victims’ fault — they knew alves was armed with a knife, she argued. why did they get involved?
“we know the real truth, we heard the evidence during the trial,” salima said outside the courtroom.
there was nothing that justified taking away her little brother.
they came from a history of war, terror and hostility to find solace in canada.
“as the youngest member of our family firdaws bore the weight of great expectations, for we recognized his extraordinary potential from a young age,” they wrote in their victim impact statement last fall.
his big dreams died that night. his mom would soon follow.
“as a mother, no heart can bear the weight of losing a child, especially when that loss is of the youngest, and even more so, when it is the result of such a senseless act of cruelty and so abrupt,” they wrote.
eventually the family decided they had to leave their home filled with unbearable memories.
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“we fled the city seeking solace in a new, unfamiliar place far from the crowded streets that now fill us with fear.”
partygoer michael morgan suffered a 7-cm wide slash to his right bicep that required eight stitches as he rushed in to save a friend.
“every time i see this scar, i am reminded of the incident and the pain that i felt both physical and emotional,” he wrote in his victim impact statement.
as alves sat in the prisoner’s box, his family in the front row, and his victim’s in the back, freeman contended the knife-wielding killer wasn’t the sole instigator of the violence that night. the victims “chose to insert themselves” into the melee.
nabizada, she argued, initiated a fight with alves and he was the one who was physical first – an accusation that left his family shaking their heads.
freeman said alves wanted to plead guilty to manslaughter, but the offer was rejected by the crown. she assured the judge that he’s a remorseful, youthful first-time offender who cried when he first saw evidence of what he did and who hurts to see the pain he’s caused.
yet he comes before the court and asks for a joke of a sentence? how remorseful could he be?
the sentencing hearing continues.
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