‘My entire life meant nothing’

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This article was published 07/09/2023 (778 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

While lying in an ambulance and fearing she was drawing her last breath, a young woman who’d been stabbed repeatedly while working at an Olive Garden prayed she would end up in heaven.

“My entire life meant nothing. It was a means to an end — to my end — because you hoped I would die,” the 18-year-old said in a Winnipeg courtroom last week as she addressed the man who had attacked her.

“I thought that instead of my last breath being taken surrounded by family and love when I’m 98-and-a-half, my last breath was going to be taken staring up at an ambulance ceiling, while my $100 uniform… was getting cut off by paramedics.”

Robert Alan Ingram pleaded guilty to randomly targeting the woman, a waitress at the eatery at 51 Reenders Dr., in June, and stabbing her at least seven times.

At his sentencing hearing Aug. 29, court was told Ingram was motivated by a desire to end up in Stony Mountain Institution, a federal prison north of Winnipeg.

Provincial court Judge Malcolm McDonald called the crime “a frightening example of somebody picking out somebody randomly to fulfil a really bizarre purpose” as he sentenced him to six years in prison.

In her emotional impact statement, the victim detailed the traumatic effect of the crime on her health, family and community.

”I wish you chose not to stab someone that day – and this is a bit personal – but I’m thankful you chose me”

“I wish you chose not to stab someone that day — and this is a bit personal — but I’m thankful you chose me,” she said.

“Because not a single one of those grandmas taking their kids out for dinner deserved to get stabbed that night, or any of the kids on staff. Not a single soul deserves to feel like their last breath was going to be at 18 years old with nothing to their name.”

The woman, who was once an active basketball player, has difficulty climbing stairs and struggles to hold her head up, due to nerve and muscle damage suffered during the attack.

She described an “incredibly painful” healing process, which includes lingering numbness in her arms and neck and panic attacks.

“Emotionally, I’ve been struggling because nothing in my life has had the same effect on me as this has,” she said, describing how she had experienced depression and been targeted by racism because of her Black and Muslim heritage.

“None of it compares to those first few weeks back in my home, awake at 3 a.m. in the morning, clutching a kitchen knife under my pillow in the sweltering heat because I couldn’t bring myself to close the window for fear that you had somehow escaped and were waiting for the moment I let my guard down,” she said to Ingram, her voice catching in her throat.

‘Truly a resilient young woman’

Crown attorney Colin Soul told court Ingram arrived at the Olive Garden at 7 p.m. and drank three beers before leaving briefly and returning to order another.

He stood up from his table “without warning or provocation” and approached the victim, who was serving another patron. He stabbed her in the neck with a 4-inch folding knife before knocking her to the ground and continuing to stab her, Soul told court.

The woman suffered wounds to her chest, wrist, clavicle, neck, arm and leg. One of the stab wounds punctured her lung, causing it to collapse.

She was taken to hospital in unstable condition and was treated for five days before being released, said Soul, who described her as a “truly a resilient young woman.”

When police found Ingram in a nearby parking lot around 8:30 p.m., he had a knife with dried blood on it, Soul said.

Working first shift as server

The victim had been working at the restaurant to financially support her mother, who has had to dip into the family’s savings to pay for her university tuition, she said.

On the day of the attack, she was working her first shift as a server.

“I worked there for over a year, and the entire time I dreamed of being a server,” she said, describing how she memorized the menu and missed a social high school event to go to training.

“To say we have to make things stretch is an understatement, and to say myself being out of work hasn’t had an incredible impact on my family is a lie.”

‘Unspecified psychotic disorder’

The Crown had urged the judge to impose an eight-year sentence, while defence lawyer Saheel Zaman argued for four years in custody.

Zaman said Ingram has lived in various apartments and on the street, including periodic stays in shelters and psychiatric facilities.

He noted his client has addictions and an “unspecified psychotic disorder.”

In the past, Ingram pleaded guilty to a variety of offences, including arson, theft and mischief, court records show.

Zaman said his client may suffer from delusions, including his belief that he has served time in federal prison.

“He thinks in his mind that he has been at Stony Mountain before. We know he hasn’t,” he said.

Ingram, who appeared to be confused at several points during the hearing, interjected when his lawyer said this, calling him a liar.

When it was his chance to speak, he apologized to the victim.

Winnipeg’s Muslim community rallied around the woman following the attack, demanding it be investigated as a hate crime. Ingram told court the attack was “not a hate crime.”

The Crown and defence agreed the attack was not racially motivated, despite initial belief by police the victim may have been targeted because she was wearing a hijab.

Ingram pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault. McDonald stayed charges of possession of a weapon and failing to comply with a probation order. He was ordered to provide a DNA sample and received a lifetime ban on having weapons.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca