Muslim community seeks hate crime investigation into Olive Garden stabbing

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This article was published 18/07/2023 (829 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Members of Winnipeg’s Muslim community are demanding the recent case of a man accused of stabbing a female restaurant employee be reopened and investigated as a potential hate crime.

An 18-year-old Somali Muslim woman, who wears a hijab, was stabbed multiple times by a customer June 8 at the Olive Garden (51 Reenders Dr.).

The day after the attack, city police called the incident “unprovoked and random in nature.”

Robert Alan Ingram, 27, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, possession of a weapon, and failure to comply with a probation order. He is set to next appear in court Friday.

On Tuesday, the National Council of Canadian Muslims said the victim’s race, religion and recollection of the attack were not taken into account by police when investigating and laying charges.

“We’ve had meetings with the Winnipeg Police Service. Our concern is, as of now, the police service has confirmed that they’ve done their fulsome investigation. Our concerns are around the fact that charges were shared without a fulsome statement of the victim, and we’re asking for a more fulsome investigation around the motive,” Aasiyah Khan said at a news conference in the Manitoba Islamic Association’s prayer room.

Khan read a statement attributed to the victim, who was not named by police at the time of the attack. In it, she said the accused had been watching her before the attack, and she was the only Black and visibly Muslim person in the restaurant at the time.

“I think it’s important to know that this man who attacked me and tried to kill me seemed to target me. He didn’t go on a random stabbing spree, which is how the story was first reported,” the statement reads, in part.

“I can’t know anyone’s motivation for certain, and I don’t pretend to. But when he came back, he didn’t go to any of the other customers or workers, he went straight at the only minority person in the room, which was me.”

Her back was turned and she was serving other customers when she was stabbed, the employee said. “He went straight for me. No one else.”

The woman said she was still in the hospital and had not yet made any statements to police when investigators deemed the attack “random.”

Government representatives in attendance said they stood with the Muslim community.

“This act of violence… has all the hallmarks of an act of hate targeted towards a young woman because of her race, and/or her religion,” said Liberal MP Terry Duguid. “I stand alongside the National Council of Canadian Muslims and the Manitoba Islamic Association in their request for further investigation).”

Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital) said he would request a briefing on the case from the Winnipeg Police Board.

Tory MLA Obby Khan extended condolences to those involved, but said he would not comment on the case, as it remains before the judicial system.

However, WPS Chief Danny Smyth said Tuesday he stood by the case investigation — adding it included outreach to the local Muslim community and the family of the victim.

At this time, he said, investigators believe the woman was targeted but there is no evidence a hate crime occurred.

“We had the opportunity to meet with (the National Council of Canadian Muslims), our hate crimes co-ordinator met with him. We did try to walk through with them elements of the file. Based on what they did today, I guess they just weren’t satisfied with our explanation,” Smyth said.

“But at the end of the day, our members acted on the evidence that they had.”

Aggravated assault charges, rather than attempted murder charges, were laid primarily because of the challenge of establishing intent in the incident, Smyth said.

“I’m pretty satisfied that a thorough job was done here.”

The suspect was a long-time client of St. Boniface Street Links resources and was part of its outreach program at the time of the attack, Street Links founder Marion Willis said.

The accused required a level of psychiatric care that was not being made available to him through the province’s health-care system, she said. “We all believed that he was actually going to hurt somebody.”

However, Willis said: “A hate crime would require a plan and some intent to hurt a particular person from a particular group… (The accused) can’t plan. (The accused) has completely lost touch with reality, completely, and he lives in his own world now. And we can only hope that he gets the help that he needs.”

Police-reported hate crimes in Canada in 2021 increased 27 per cent from the year prior, according to the most recent Statistics Canada data. Hate crimes targeting Muslims rose 71 per cent nationally in that time.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca