A homeless person who allegedly stabbed a security guard at a pizza restaurant in Oshawa, Ont., had a warrant out for his arrest for nearly two weeks before the altercation.
The victim of the stabbing was rushed to a Toronto-area trauma centre with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, according to a Durham Region Police Services news release.
Police responded to an armed person call at a pizza shop at Simcoe Street North and Beatrice Street East on Monday at around 10:15 pm. When police arrived, the security guard had already been stabbed.
“A male entered the restaurant, who was not permitted to be there. A security guard saw the male enter the business and attempted to remove him. A verbal disagreement occurred, which resulted in the suspect stabbing the security guard. Police arrived on scene and took the suspect into custody without incident,” the report said.
Neil Francis Squires, 50, “of no fixed address,” was charged with aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and possessing a weapon dangerous to the public.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of the Attorney General told True North that Squires was issued a bench warrant on Aug. 6 for mischief over $5000.
He allegedly stabbed the security guard 13 days later.
The spokesperson said Squires’ next court hearing will be on Aug. 27 at 10:30 am at the Oshawa courthouse.
DRPS did not respond to True North’s request to comment.
“This is another sign and symptom of the decaying of Canadian society,” lawyer and political commentator Ari Goldkind told True North in an interview. “The seriousness of such a person being out, skipping court and being free to stab somebody who’s just doing their job as a security guard trying to protect the public…when we go shopping, is something that we should not be blase about.”
Goldkind believes this attack should never have happened and is a consequence of soft-on-crime approaches to justice.
“There are a significant number of people who have been released, on bail or promises to appear, who either don’t show up for court with no recourse for that until they’re luckily or magically caught and or who will commit serious crimes of violence while they were out on bail,” Goldkind said.
He said that in this situation, the courts did what they could by issuing a bench warrant, presumably for not attending a court hearing, though it requires police action to ensure criminals are off the streets when the courts have ordered their arrest.
“This person is left unlawfully at large in the community, subject to arrest. I can probably assure you that the police are not looking for him or people who are on bail for far more serious offences and who have skipped bail or not shown up for court,” Goldkind said. “We are at the point where fatigue is setting in the public that opens up the news every morning and seas. Instead of one or two shootings or stabbings, there’s ten or 12.”
He said that police might be able to do more with more resources.
“There is only so much police can do. There is only so much taxpayer money that can be thrown at police. Given how much taxpayer money is wasted and thrown away in Ottawa, the police, I’m sure, would love to have a hundred more officers looking for such people,” Goldkind said. “The country that we’re living in has security guards, families, children, drivers and homeowners more and more each day, subject to exactly this kind of crime by exactly these kinds of people. It is really up to Canadians to say enough is enough.”
Police are asking anyone with information about the incident to contact D/Cst. Armstrong of the Central East Division Criminal Investigations Branch at 1-888-579-1520 ext. 2741.