John Ivison: Exhibit A for why Canadians are losing faith in the justice system

The only possible good news out of the Omar Abdul Singateh fiasco is that the passage of the bail and sentencing reform bill, C-14, should ensure that repeats of his travesty are few

Loath as I am to undermine public confidence in our institutions, the alleged shooting rampage by 25-year-old Brampton resident Omar Abdul Singateh last weekend offers a good example why so many Canadians have lost patience with the legal system. Singateh was arrested in Toronto in the early hours of Sunday morning, after an exchange of gunfire near the Rebel nightclub on Toronto’s waterfront that led to him stealing a rideshare car containing four passengers, and subsequently striking pedestrians. Two people, including the accused, were transferred to hospital with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.

Recommended Videos Singateh was charged with discharging a firearm, unauthorized possession of a firearm, possessing a firearm while prohibited, robbery, and four counts of forcible confinement. As the firearm prohibition suggests, he was no novice in terms of close encounters with law enforcement. It has emerged that he was awaiting sentencing, after pleading guilty in May to driving from his home in Brampton to Montreal, where he and two accomplices beat and tortured a man until he gave them $15,000 in cryptocurrency.

According to evidence filed in a Montreal courtroom, Singateh beat the man with a barbell and broke his fingers at the behest of an unknown man who he contacted via the Signal app. “Time to do a little torture,” the anonymous man said. Singateh was subsequently arrested and pleaded guilty to unlawful confinement, breaking and entering, armed robbery and assault and causing bodily harm.

He was released on bail and scheduled to appear in court in October for sentencing. Apparently unbeknownst to the judge in Montreal, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida named Singateh as a member of a five-man smuggling ring that moved 100 guns into Canada. The indictment says the five individuals, at least three of whom reside in Canada, trafficked the guns from Florida to Canada in 2023 and 2024.

Twenty-nine firearms were subsequently recovered from Canadian crime scenes. I say “apparently unbeknownst” because any judge who had granted bail and subsequently found out about the U.S. indictment should immediately have contacted the office of the Crown attorney and requested Singateh be brought before the court to make the case for why he shouldn’t be placed in custody. Yet, even on the merits of the Montreal case, it is inexplicable to me how any judge could leave Singateh at liberty after viewing the grisly evidence (much of which appeared in the