Court File and Parties

Court File No.: CR-21-400000618-0000
Date: 2025-07-23
Court: Ontario Superior Court of Justice

Between:
His Majesty the King
and
Kayani As-Sadiq, Defendant

Appearances:

• Mr. Martin Sabat, for the Crown
• Ms. Keely Duncan, Counsel for the Accused

Heard: April 15, 16, 18, 19, 22-24, 26, 30, 2024; February 26, 27, 2025.

Justice: Peter G. Bawden

Overview

[1] Mr. As-Sadiq is charged with assault and threatening death to his former wife, Marie-Lyne Toussaint on March 29, 2020. Mr. As-Sadiq testified that Ms. Toussaint fabricated the allegations to get him out of the home and maintain custody of their children. I do not accept Mr. As-Sadiq’s testimony and find that it cannot reasonably be true. I do accept the testimony of Ms. Toussaint. I find that she was a credible witness, her testimony is consistent with the evidence of independent witnesses, and her account of events is corroborated by the post offence conduct of Mr. As-Sadiq. I find Mr. As-Sadiq guilty of assault and threatening death to Ms. Toussaint on March 29.

[2] Mr. As-Sadiq is further charged with attempted murder and other offences relating to a second attack on Ms. Toussaint which occurred on April 24, 2020. There is no dispute that an assailant attacked Ms. Toussaint with a machete and caused her grievous injuries; the only issue is the identity of the attacker. Mr. As-Sadiq advanced an alibi defence claiming that he was in Hamilton at the time of the attack. The alibi is contradicted by Mr. As-Sadiq’s cell phone records and video surveillance evidence. I reject the alibi and find that it cannot reasonably be true.

[3] I am satisfied beyond any reasonable doubt that Mr. As-Sadiq was the perpetrator of the April 24 attack based on the following evidence:

a. Ms. Toussaint and an independent witness who was very familiar with Mr. As‑Sadiq emphatically identified him as the assailant.
b. Video evidence corroborates the identification.
c. Call detail records for Mr. As-Sadiq’s phone place him at the scene shortly before the attack occurred.
d. Mr. As-Sadiq’s post offence conduct.

[4] Having rejected the alibi and found beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. As-Sadiq was the perpetrator, I find him guilty of assault with a weapon, aggravated assault and possession of a weapon for a purpose dangerous to the public peace. I am not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. As-Sadiq intended to kill Ms. Toussaint, and he is therefore acquitted of the charge of attempt murder.

The Evidence

The Evidence of Marie-Lyne Toussaint

(i) The Background of the Relationship

[5] The complainant, Marie-Lyne Toussaint, was 43 years old at the time of these events. She has three sons: Tahim, Najah and Ayashi. Tahim was born in 2003 and was the child of an earlier relationship. Najah was born in 2010 and Ayashi in 2016. Mr. As-Sadiq is the father of Najah and Ayashi.

[6] Ms. Toussaint met the accused in August 2009, and they commenced a relationship shortly after they met. In March 2012, they moved to a townhouse located at Unit 60, 21 Potsdam Road in Toronto. They lived there until March 29, 2020, the date of the first alleged assault.

[7] According to Ms. Toussaint, the accused contributed very little to the finances of the household. She worked long hours at two jobs to pay the rent and make payments on the car which they owned, a black Buick Verano. Although Ms. Toussaint provided the downpayment for the car and made all the monthly payments, the vehicle was in Mr. As-Sadiq’s name.

[8] Ms. Toussaint testified that she first became dissatisfied with the relationship in 2014. She stayed with Mr. As-Sadiq because she did not want to break up the family and in 2016, she became pregnant with their son Ayashi. By 2019, she felt that the relationship was at an end. She and Mr. As-Sadiq had a significant argument in June 2019, and she moved into a separate bedroom. She told Mr. As-Sadiq that he would have to get a job and save money so that he could move out of the townhouse.

(ii) Discreditable Conduct Evidence Relied Upon by the Crown

[9] The first incident alleging discreditable conduct by the accused arises from an argument which occurred in June 2019. Ms. Toussaint and Mr. As-Sadiq were having an “intense” argument in the dining room of their home. All three of their sons were present. As they were arguing, their son Najah (who was then either 8 or 9 years old) went into the kitchen and returned to the dining room carrying a knife. According to Ms. Toussaint, Mr. As-Sadiq angrily told Najah to stab his mother. Ms. Toussaint had no idea why Najah had picked up the knife, but she told him to take it back to the kitchen and he did.

[10] The second instance of discreditable conduct pertains to the events of January 20, 2020. Ms. Toussaint went to her bedroom on the 3rd floor of the townhouse and found the accused lying in her bed. She asked him what he was doing and Mr. As-Sadiq responded that his back hurt and he wanted to sleep in her bed. She told him that she didn’t care about his back pain, he had his own bed, and he was not going to sleep in her bed. They begin to argue loudly, and the three boys came into the room. The accused looked as though he wanted to fight her and she said “go ahead, try it!” Mr. As-Sadiq became very angry and shoved Ms. Toussaint towards an open closet. She recalled being scared that he was going to beat her more severely, but he only pushed her once and she was able to stay on her feet. She did not report the incident to the police.

[11] Ms. Toussaint did not initially recall the accused having said that he would kill her on January 20 butafter refreshing her memory by reviewing her statement to police, she testified that he said he would stab her and kill her.

(iii) The Alleged Offences on March 29

[12] The incident giving rise to the first two counts on the Indictment occurred on March 29. The pandemic had just been declared and the entire family was confined in their townhouse. Ms. Toussaint left the house during the evening to sit outside in the car. She returned to her bedroom between 9:30 and 10:00 pm and was lying in her bed watching a show on her cellphone when Mr. As-Sadiq stormed into the room. He grabbed her phone and began to accuse her of cheating on him. He called Ms. Toussaint’s friend, Rhondi, and threatened him. Ms. Toussaint screamed at Mr. As-Sadiq to give her back the phone. Mr. As-Sadiq handed the phone back to her, then punched her on the left side of her head near the ear.

[13] Ms. Toussaint was not precise about the sequence of the events which occurred in the bedroom, but did recall the following:

a. Mr. As-Sadiq called her a whore and accused her of cheating on him.
b. Her eldest son, Tahim, jumped on the bed and tried to protect her by placing himself between her and Mr. As-Sadiq.
c. At some point after punching her, Mr. As-Sadiq called a friend and said, “I need a Glock.” She understood this to mean that he intended to shoot her.
d. Mr. As-Sadiq called his girlfriend and told her that Ms. Toussaint “made me do this”.
e. He told Ms. Toussaint that if she called the police, he would stab her and kill her. After saying this, he spat in her face.

[14] Ms. Toussaint testified that she was trembling and crying after the assault. She collected some of her belongings and put them in the car. She then returned to the townhouse to get the children. Mr. As-Sadiq told her that she was not going to take his children and demanded that she give him the health cards for Najah and Ayashi. Tahim told her to run. She gave Mr. As-Sadiq the health cards and ran out of the house yelling “call 911”.

[15] Ms. Toussaint and Tahim got into the car and drove to the parking lot of nearby apartment building located at 10 Tobermory drive. Her neighbour in the adjoining unit, Desiree Robertson, called her while she was there. Desiree told her that they had heard the screaming and her husband, Kemar Bailey, had called police. Desiree walked to Tobermory Drive and met with Ms. Toussaint. Police and paramedics also soon arrived.

[16] Ms. Toussaint was sitting in an ambulance receiving treatment when she received a call from Mr. As-Sadiq. He was furious and told her that he would kill her if she called police. She immediately screamed that she did not call police. The paramedic heard the call and told her to report the threat to police.

[17] Ms. Toussaint testified that the left side of her face was swollen and very sensitive because of the punch. She was not bleeding, and the pain subsided in a couple of days.

[18] Ms. Toussaint returned to her home with police later that evening. Mr. As-Sadiq was gone and had left Najah and Ayashi alone in the townhouse. She collected the children and drove to stay with a family member who lived outside of Toronto. She returned to the home about four days later with a police escort to collect some clothing. She and the children then moved to a shelter. She did not disclose the location of the shelter to anyone.

[19] When Ms. Toussaint arrived at the shelter, she parked the Buick in the front parking lot. When she looked for it the next day, the car was gone. She immediately concluded that Mr. As‑Sadiq must have taken it since he was the only other person who had a key. Ms. Toussaint notified the shelter staff, and they suggested that she watch the video from their surveillance cameras to see if she could see when Mr. As-Sadiq arrived. She did review the video and saw that Mr. As-Sadiq entered the shelter and walked through the hallways putting his ear to the doors of the rooms. Ms. Toussaint notified police, and the shelter staff assigned a guard to watch her room.

(iv) The Attack on April 24

[20] Ms. Toussaint knew that she would have to return home one more time to collect her belongings. She contacted Desiree Robertson and asked her if she would help her to move. Desiree and her husband agreed to help.

[21] On the day of the move, April 24, Ms. Toussaint contacted police to ask for an escort. She was told that no officers were available, and she would have to wait. She did not want to risk being at the house at nightfall. She asked Desiree if she had seen anyone in the unit and Desiree said that she had not. Ms. Toussaint decided to go into the house.

[22] She unlocked the door and entered with Desiree and Kemar Bailey. They checked the first floor and basement and did not see anyone. They did not check the 2nd or 3rd floor. Ms. Toussaint and Desiree began to fill garbage bags in the basement while Kemar carried items to a van which Ms. Toussaint had rented for the move. They left the front door open so that Kemar could come in and out of the house easily.

[23] As she was working in the basement, Ms. Toussaint heard a noise. Desiree walked to the front of the stairs leading to the first floor and began to scream. Ms. Toussaint saw Mr. As-Sadiq coming down the stairs with a machete in his hand. Desiree began to run up the stairs, passing Mr. As-Sadiq as she ran.

[24] Ms. Toussaint was standing beside the stairwell when Mr. As-Sadiq reached the basement. She testified that she knew in that moment she was going to die. He came towards her and said, “I told you I was going to get you.” She was holding the lid of a plastic packing crate in her hand as he came towards her, and she tried to use it to ward off the blows. She made eye contact with the accused as he was hacking at her with the knife. She described him as enraged.

[25] Ms. Toussaint backed away from Mr. As-Sadiq. She fell to the floor underneath the staircase and at that moment, saw what she described as a flash of white light. That is the last thing that she recalls before blacking out.

[26] When she came back to consciousness, she was alone in the basement. She was amazed to realize that she was still alive. She looked at her left arm and saw that it had been “chopped” and the bones were broken. Realizing that she might bleed to death if she stayed in the basement, she walked upstairs. As she passed through the dining room, she picked up a portable telephone and called police. She then sat in the doorway, waiting for them to arrive. As she waited, she noticed that she was also bleeding from her leg and her side. She did not know how either of those injuries had occurred.

[27] Ms. Toussaint suffered extremely serious injuries:

a. Three deep slashes to the left arm (one above the elbow and two below).
b. A wound to her right side which she believed punctured her lung.
c. A deep cut to her right leg which was closed with stitches and staples.

[28] P.C. Defina was dispatched to the call at 1:50 pm and arrived at 1:53 pm. He applied a tourniquet to slow the bleeding and used towels to attempt to cover the wound to the side of her chest. Paramedics quickly arrived and transported Ms. Toussaint to Sunnybrook hospital.

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