MANDEL: Judge won't give Toronto carjacker 'artificial' sentence to avoid automatic deportation
· Toronto Sun
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Just a few months earlier, homeless drug addict Mohammad Shofa had caught a break.
Convicted of armed robbery, threatening a store clerk with a knife and breaching his bail, the Afghan immigrant was given a suspended two-year sentence and placed on probation on conditions he not possess any weapons and get help for his drug addiction.
He complied with neither.
Instead, Shofa, 29, admits committing 13 more charges related to another robbery, an attempted robbery and a carjacking in the spring of 2024 — on May 20, he robbed a vulnerable, lone restaurant employee at knifepoint and stole $100 and her iPhone; on June 4, he tried to rob a store on Yonge St. by grabbing the store clerk, brandishing a knife and demanding money. But he couldn’t get into the cash register and fled.
Three days later, at 3 a.m., Shofa entered a vehicle, held a knife to the driver’s torso and said, “Drive now.” When the driver refused to comply, Shofa began slashing at him and stabbed him in the hand, which resulted in a wound that required several stitches. Eventually, the driver managed to flee, Shofa took his place behind the steering wheel and drove away.
Now the remorseful carjacker wanted mercy again — he asked Superior Court Justice Breese Davies to sentence him to less than six months for each of his 13 crimes in a very, shall we say, creative way to allow the permanent resident to still be able to appeal the inevitable deportation order he’ll face for “serious criminality.”
If any sentence was over six months — including for the carjacking and assault with a weapon charges — Shofa would lose his right to appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
Crown rejects defence’s math
Meanwhile, the Crown rejected the defence’s mathematic gymnastics and urged Davies to impose a 10-year sentence.
Born in Iran, Shofa, now 29, was raised in Afghanistan where he worked for a short time as a nurse. He had a traumatic life there — he was a victim of a shooting and ironically, was also seriously injured during a robbery at his family’s home.
After the Taliban seized control in 2021, he came to Canada with his family — his father, an engineer, had assisted the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan – but by 2022, his parents kicked him out after he resisted their calls to get help for his drug problem: Shofa was injecting crystal meth daily and using heroin and fentanyl.
Davies accepted that the immigration consequences will be significant.
“Mr. Shofa will be inadmissible in Canada and will lose his permanent resident status once I convict him of robbery,” she said. “A removal order will likely be issued regardless of the sentence I impose.”
His only chance to appeal was if she didn’t impose any sentences of more than six months. Davies was sympathetic — but thankfully, unmoved.
“I find that the sentence of less than six months is disproportionately lenient for the three robberies and the assault on (the driver),” she said. “Carjacking is a very serious offence. People expect and should be able to expect to be safe when they are in the privacy of their own vehicle.”
The Ontario Court of Appeal, Davies noted, has cautioned judges not to allow deportation concerns to lead to a disproportionate sentence. “I also find that apportioning Mr. Shofa’s sentence as he suggests would result in an artificial sentence that would circumvent the will of Parliament and violate several established principles of sentencing.”
Instead, the judge sentenced him to five-and-a-half years on all charges — including 2.5 years for the carjacking — less credit of 1.5 days for each of the 880 days he’s spent in “oppressive and inhumane” conditions of triple bunking and lockdowns.
That leaves Shofa with another 627 days to serve — as well as a restitution order of $559 to replace the restaurant worker’s cellphone.
And hopefully the young Afghan can then be ordered removed from the country who welcomed here such a short time ago.