He was looking for someone to kill that night — so no, there is no rehabilitating the young man who viciously stabbed 16-year-old Gabriel Magalhaes to death at the TTC’s Keele Station two years ago.
Jordan O’Brien-Tobin, 24, who has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, sat lumpen in the prisoner’s box as prosecutors outlined the “violent, callous” killer’s shockingly long criminal record for someone so young — more than 120 convictions for failing to comply with court orders and 18 convictions for assault, including assault with a weapon and sexual assault.
Crown attorney Karen Simone displayed photos of his smiling, mop-haired victim on the courtroom screen. “Gabriel was a beloved son, brother, grandson, friend and only 16 years old, completely innocent, simply trying to get home on March 25, 2023,” she said. “His death was not only tragic but horrific. He was unarmed, unsuspecting, and did nothing to provoke Mr. O’Brien-Tobin.”
The automatic sentence for second-degree murder is life in prison — the only issue for Superior Court Justice Jane Kelly is to determine how long before the Newfoundland native can apply for parole. Simone urged the judge to impose a stiff 18-year period of parole ineligibility while defence lawyer Jeff Berman argued for 12 years.
It was so achingly senseless.
It was just before 9 p.m. and Gabriel and his friend were on a bench at Keele Station, heading home, when O’Brien-Tobin came down the stairs and began staring at them.
After briefly leaving the station, he returned and immediately headed toward Gabriel.
“He showed callous disregard for Gabriel when he targeted him at the station and stabbed him in his chest, lung and heart and left him to die,” the prosecutor said.
A forensic examination of his cellphone found O’Brien-Tobin had been sending chilling messages to his girlfriends, friends and mother both before and after the murder, including “Someones (sic) dying TN’; “I just stabbed someone random” and “I stabbed someone and got away with it.”
“He was looking for someone to stab or kill, Your Honour,” Simone said. “He’s only shown violence to the public, including very innocent people all along the way. He is incorrigible and cannot be controlled in the community which is why the Crown is asking for a higher parole ineligibility.”
The pain of Gabriel’s grieving parents filled the courtroom as the prosecutor read from their heart-wrenching victim impact statements.
“I feel like I will never be able to take a single breath without feeling the sharp blade that entered the body of my beloved son, cutting my soul open and leaving all the shattered pieces of my formerly merry self splattered around me,” wrote his mother Andrea Magalhaes.
“I feel like instantly with his murder, I become a ghost, a shadow, an empty shell. The moment I opened the door and my worst fear, any mom’s worst nightmare, was confirmed, my life changed forever.”
Gabriel dreamed of being an astrophysicist, she said, of climbing Mount Everest. He’ll never again give her his warm hugs, find his first love, know the joy of having his own child.
But Magalhaes knows only too well how the miracle of parenthood also comes with years of trepidation and a myriad of second-guesses. She’s left now to fear for her surviving son — and to blame herself.
“I failed my life. I failed the single most important job of my existence, to keep my son safe,” she wrote. “If only love alone could protect our children.”
O’Brien-Tobin’s lawyer told the judge his client has drug and mental health issues, had a rough upbringing in a group home and his guilty plea is a sign of remorse.
In his address to the court, O’Brien-Tobin said he’d been struggling mentally at the time of the slaying due to the suicide of a 16-year-old friend. He then claimed to understand what Gabriel’s parents are enduring — his firstborn daughter died while he was in custody.
“I asked myself if this is not punishing me for what I’ve done,” he said. “It is not easy losing a child, and I can only imagine the pain you’re going through. My words cannot bring back your loved one. I’m really sorry for what I did. I’m sorry for your loss.”
Kelly will deliver her sentence Feb. 28.