‘You took away my whole life’: Samatar Hassan pleads guilty to manslaughter in Carel Douse stabbing death
A 24-year-old man who was present during a knife attack on Hamilton's Carel Douse in May 2019, and who served as a lookout while the 33-year-old was stabbed 19 times, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Samatar Hassan, who is from Toronto, was sentenced April 9 by Justice Stephen Glithero to six years in prison.
Hassan, who was originally charged with first-degree murder, will serve three years of the sentence due to credit given for his time served in jail, which was given added weight due to isolation time as a result of COVID-19 lockdowns.
I'm sorry, if I could bring him back, I would," Justice Glithero said offering his condolences during the hearing held virtually on Zoom, in which Douse's fiance, Jennifer Clark, was participating.
Crown prosecutor Clare Hopkins said Hassan's moral blameworthiness" in the attack was high, and argued for an eight-year sentence. She added that Hassan was convicted for an aggravated assault in Toronto in 2017.
Clark spoke on behalf of Douse's family. She had been in a relationship with him for ten years, and teared up reading a victim impact statement directed squarely at Hassan.
I don't forgive you, I never will, you took away my whole life," she said. You took away the person that meant the most to me in this world ... I should be planning my wedding and writing my vows but you took that opportunity away from me.
I wore my white dress, though, to Carel's funeral. You made me a widow before he could officially make me his wife."
The homicide was motivated by payback, according to details in an agreed statement of facts.
Hassan had come to Hamilton May 17, 2019 to meet his friend Daniel Wise. He learned that Wise, 28, and a second man, Alieu Jeng, 27, planned to attack Douse in retaliation for a recent fight they had in a bar in Hess Village.
Hassan learned that Wise and Jeng planned to use their knives to give Douse an injury he wouldn't forget,'" reads the statement of facts.
At 3 a.m. on May 18, the three men each carried knives into an after-hours gathering at More Than a Haircut on King Street East. According to the statement of facts, Wise and Jeng attacked Douse and chased him down East Avenue North, to the porch of a house where they repeatedly stabbed him all over his body, including the face, chest, and stomach.
After three surgeries at Hamilton General Hospital, Douse was declared dead from blood loss at 12:21 p.m.
Hassan never pulled his own knife from a bag he carried, but also did nothing to try and stop the attack, nor try to get himself out of the situation, as any reasonable person would," said Glithero. Instead, he joins the other two in chasing (Douse) down the street ... and he warned the other two that a car was approaching."
In the Criminal Code, manslaughter sentences range from probation to life in prison. In a lengthy dissertation prior to sentencing, Glithero presented a list of factors to weigh.
He said an aggravating" factor in Hassan's role was that he had no beef" with Douse, yet seemed to take part in the payback just for the thrill of it."
Mitigating factors in reducing Hassan's sentence included that he entered a guilty plea, admitted his involvement to police, and was not the one who wielded a knife.
And, while Hassan knew the two men planned to injure Douse, court heard no evidence he knew they would kill him.
Wise and Jeng are charged with first-degree murder. The date for trial has not yet been set, and may be further delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jon Wells is a Hamilton-based reporter and feature writer for The Spectator. Reach him via email: jwells@thespec.com