Daniel Hoffmann’s grief-stricken mother appeared virtually from Windsor, Ont., in a Toronto courtroom Wednesday and recalled the terrible day, three years ago, when her husband drove to their son’s apartment to find him dead.

“When he found Daniel that fateful day, he was changed forever. How could he not be, seeing what he saw? The sound of his voice when he called me to tell me what had happened to Daniel was filled with sheer agony and grief, a tone I will never forget,” said Wendy Hoffmann, describing her only child as the centre of their family.

Last month, 23-year-old Adrian Desario, 25-year-old Dawson Aguilera Jimenez and 21-year-old Nikki Karimi, who were all facing a charge of first-degree murder re-elected to be tried by judge alone. Aguilera Jimenez and Karimi then waived their right to a trial and both pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of second-degree murder, while Desario pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

According to an agreed statement of facts, Desario was a friend of Hoffmann’s, Aguilera Jimenez was Desario’s boyfriend and knew Hoffmann through Desario, and they were acquaintances but not friends. Karimi was a friend of Desario and Aguilera Jimenez, who had only become newly acquainted with Hoffmann.

On the night of April 12, 2022, Desario went to Hoffmann’s residence with Karimi. In the early morning hours of April 13, Aguilera Jimenez arrived at the building and was denied entry by Hoffmann. Desario went to the lobby and brought Aguilera Jimenez to the apartment, knowing Hoffmann did not want him there.

Around 4:20 a.m., Aguilera Jimenez arrived in unit 2006. Hoffman pulled a knife on Aguilera Jimenez and threatened to have his friends attend the apartment to “back him up”.

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After some discussion, the situation de-escalated. Aguilera Jimenez and Hoffmann shook hands, and the four drank alcohol and consumed drugs.

At approximately 5:30 or 6:00 a.m., Aguilera Jimenez and Hoffmann got into an argument, which turned physical. Hoffmann was unarmed at the time of the altercation. Aguilera Jimenez and Karimi stabbed Hoffmann with a knife. He succumbed to his injuries a short time later. Hoffmann sustained nine stab wounds, including three to the chest.

Desario did not stab Hoffmann, but admits she verbally engaged and encouraged the altercation as it turned physical. She was a party to the initial assault but did not know there would be injuries likely to cause or materially contribute to his death.

All three accused were taunting Hoffman while he was being stabbed. Eight videos were made during the attack, including some that Karimi shared through social media.

After the stabbing, Karimi and Aguilera Jimenez cleaned up the crime scene and removed a knife from the apartment and discarded it to avoid detection.

Desario took Hoffmann’s cell phone and credit card. She used the credit card at Shopper’s Drug Mart to buy gift cards. The credit card was found in Desario’s possession after her arrest.

Desario drove her mother’s car with her two co-accused to Niagara Falls, where they rented a room. It’s there where they were arrested by Niagara Regional Police.

Later that afternoon, around 5 p.m., Hoffmann’s father discovered his son’s lifeless body in the apartment.

During the search of the apartment, four knives were missing from the knife block. One loose knife was found at the base of a coffee table near Hoffmann’s body. Another was found on the kitchen counter.

Two videos were recovered from Karimi’s phone, which showed Aguilera Jimenez burying an object in a construction area near his home after the stabbing.

Hoffmann’s mother finished her victim impact statement by telling the court that she mourns the lost possibilities of what could have been. Marriage, grandchildren, a successful career and happy visits with their only child.

“We can’t help but wonder, did he suffer? Was he scared? Did he think of us? The biggest hurt is he died alone, we never got to say goodbye,” she added.

The sentencing hearing will continue in September with submissions from Crown and defence.

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Ontario Premier Doug Ford is facing backlash from First Nations leaders after claiming they “can’t just keep coming hat in hand all the time to the government” on the eve of a summit with several chiefs at Queen’s Park.

On Thursday, Ford plans to host leaders of the Anishinabek Nation, which represents 39 municipalities in Ontario, to discuss his controversial recent mining law and critical minerals in northern Ontario.

Discussing the upcoming meeting at an unrelated news conference Wednesday, Ford listed a series of funding commitments his government had made to First Nations and said he was “bending over backwards to take care of them,” adding he has treated them “like gold.”

The funding Ford listed included the province’s $3 billion Indigenous financing program and $70 million in training money.

“Treat them well, give them whatever they want for them to prosper,” Ford said, describing instructions he said he had given to his Indigenous affairs minister.

“But there’s going to be a point where you can’t just keep coming hat in hand all the time to the government. You’ve got to be able to take care of yourselves.”

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The comments sparked an intense backlash from First Nations leaders.

“Doug Ford alleges that First Nations ‘come hat in hand.’ We don’t. That we have to be ‘able to take care of’ ourselves. We do,” the Chiefs of Ontario said in a statement.

“It is Indigenous History Month — we should not need to teach elected officials about their own colonial government.”

Ontario NDP MPP Sol Mamakwa, the only Indigenous member of the legislature, called the premier’s comments “offensive and racist” in a statement.

“Today’s remarks prove that the premier has a fundamental lack of understanding of Ontario’s treaty relationship with First Nations,” he wrote.

“He is trying to create divisions in our province and is taking us back. This premier has made it clear that he won’t bring people together, uphold the honour of the crown, and obtain free, prior, and informed consent.”

The comments come as backlash over the government’s controversial mining legislation continues.

At the beginning of June, the Progressive Conservatives passed Bill 5 into law. It is mining legislation which gives the government the power to create Special Economic Zones where laws can be sidestepped.

The new zones, plus the new omnibus law, are something the Ford government says is designed to speed up the construction of large infrastructure projects, particularly mines.

Ford has said the mineral-rich Ring of Fire region in northern Ontario will be declared the first such zone.

The passage of the bill drew fury from labour leaders and environmental advocates. It was the reaction of First Nations groups, however, that the government has paid the most attention to.

They fear the law will threaten their treaty rights and be used to launch mining and other projects without proper consultation. Some have promised blockades and other disruptive protests if the government doesn’t change course.

The government has promised to consult on the legislation, but only once it has been passed.

At the news conference on Wednesday, Ford said he wanted First Nations groups to support his mining aspirations.

“When you literally have gold mines, nickel mines, every type of critical mineral that the world wants, and you’re saying, ‘No, no, I don’t want to touch that, by the way, give me money’ — not going to happen,” he said.

“But we’ll help them develop the mines and become very prosperous in their communities, something they’ve never had, ever in their entire lives.”

— With files from The Canadian Press

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An off-duty Toronto police officer guilty of assaulting a teenager during a “Kijiji deal gone bad” has been handed a suspended sentence and 12 months probation.

Const. Calvin Au was also given a three-year weapons ban by Superior Court Justice Jennifer Woollcombe inside a Brampton, Ont., courtroom Wednesday.

“I am very concerned that despite his all of his police training and experience, Au demonstrated the inability or unwillingness to assess a situation and then to use reasonable force,” Woollcombe said.

“Rather than engage the de-escalation tactics he has been taught, he went directly to using excessive force in a situation where there were many other better options. His judgement was extremely poor.”

Au was found guilty of assault, but not guilty of assault causing bodily harm, in November for the April 26, 2021, incident involving 19-year-old Chadd Facey.

That day, off-duty Toronto police Const. Gurmakh Benning agreed to meet Facey to purchase an Apple Watch after he had posted on Kijiji to sell it.

2:08
Assault trial for Toronto cop begins

During the trial, court heard Benning had asked Au, his partner, to accompany him, given he viewed Au as more tech savvy and wanted him to authenticate the watch. Facey negotiated a price of $400 with Benning.

Dressed in plain clothes, the two met Facey in the parking lot at Beryl Ford Public School on Ironshield Drive, near Cottrelle Boulevard and Highway 50, in Brampton for the transaction.

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Benning had purchased the watch before realizing it was counterfeit. Facey took off and following a five-minute foot pursuit with Au, Benning caught up to him and got his money back.

At the trial, Benning testified that Au took Facey down, without saying anything, because he thought Au didn’t know that he had already got his money back.

Au testified, in his own defence, that he didn’t know Benning had got his money back and took down Facey because he was going to arrest him. However, he did not identify himself as an officer or say he was arresting Facey. Woollcombe said she found that problematic when she delivered her ruling.

Woollcombe said in her ruling she found Au used force that was “excessive and unreasonable.”

“The take down unnecessarily increased the risk of injury to Facey when there were other less forceful options available to Au.”

2:01
An off-duty Toronto Police officer has been charged with manslaughter.

Au was originally charged with manslaughter, but the charge was later downgraded to assault causing bodily harm. At the beginning of the trial, an agreed statement of facts was entered that said “the Crown is not in a position to allege that Facey’s death was caused by the interaction with Au.”

Benning had called 911 and told the dispatcher about the “Kijiji deal gone bad” before the off-duty officers took off. Facey had called his friends who had earlier dropped him off at the location where the transaction took place after the rip-off. The friends testified they arrived on scene after the assault and picked him up.

A few hours later, Facey’s friends noticed a bump on his forehead. He later died in hospital because of an intracerebral hemorrhage.

Woollcombe found that the forensic evidence was not clear on how Facey got a bruise on his forehead and said the Crown failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Au was guilty of assault causing bodily harm.

Crown prosecutors were asking Au to serve four months in custody, followed by 12 months’ probation, as well as a five-year weapons ban and DNA order. Au’s defence was asking for a conditional discharge and said a DNA order was not necessary

Woollcombe said Wednesday Au needed to be sentenced for the assault he was convicted of, and not for causing Facey’s death.

“The sentence imposed on Au for this assault must not seek to punish him for Facey’ death or the devastation that his death has brought to his family,” Woollcombe said.

“I’m mindful that any conviction will put Au’s career in jeopardy. I do not think it is necessary to impose … a sentence that will inevitably result in his dismissal.”

Woollcombe ruled Au should have no communication with Facey’s family, take anger management counselling as directed by his probation officer and be subject to a DNA order.

Should he remain employed by the Toronto Police Service, he should take remedial training and 50 hours of community service focused on improving relations between police and the Black community, Woollcombe ruled.

“While the evidence before me suggests that this incident has caused a loss of public confidence in the police within the Black community, there is no evidence that either Au or Benning was influenced in any way by the fact that Facey was Black,” Woollcombe said.

“They were motivated by the desire to retrieve the $400 paid for the fake watch. Race was irrelevant to them.”

Au has been suspended with pay since the charges were laid, and is still facing charges under provincial legislation governing policing.

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