Wednesday, February 3, 2016

PATH stabbing accused now facing first-degree murder charge

Toronto Star

Wendy Gillis - News reporter6 hrs ago

Comedian Rick Mercer will be one of thousands expected to participate in the word record attempt snowball fight.

Mercer calls on Tories to cut the Harper-era amnesia shtick

Native Women's Shelter raising money for new van

The murder charge has been upgraded against Rohinie Bisesar, the woman accused the high-profile stabbing death of Rosemarie Junor in the PATH system late last year.

Bisesar, 40, now faces first degree murder in the death of Junor, 28, inside a Shoppers Drug Mart on Dec. 11, 2015.

Bisesar was previously charged with second-degree murder in what was believed to have been a random knife attack. The upgrade of the charge, which happened in court Wednesday afternoon, suggests police believe Bisesar’s attack involved some element of planning and premeditation.

Calvin Barry, Bisesar’s lawyer, said the case is a bit of an “oddity” since it started with an attempted murder charge, which changed to a second-degree murder after Junor died days after the attack.

“It’s gone from a two to an ace in terms of severity,” he said. “First degree is planning and deliberation, so you have to have some plan — it doesn’t have to be a complicated plan, doesn’t have to be one that goes on for days,” Barry said, speaking generally.

The investigation has been ongoing during the last two months, Barry said. He said it would be speculation to try to explain why the charge was upgraded because he doesn’t have a full understanding of the case against his client.

He does not have all of the disclosure yet, which could include surveillance video through the PATH, witness statements and 911 calls.

His client is “very distraught and upset,” – “it’s not a walk in the park” be in Vanier Centre for Women, a correctional centre in Milton, Barry said.

Bisesar was arrested Dec. 15, four days after police were called to a Shoppers Drug Mart outlet beneath the Toronto-Dominion Centre to investigate reports of a woman stabbing a shopper, seemingly without provocation.

Police said at the time that a woman armed with a knife approached a female victim and stabbed her in a “vital organ” in a “completely random act of violence.”

The victim, later revealed to be Junor, died days later in hospital.

Bisesar was a familiar face in the Financial District, and had a decade-long history of work in finance, according to a LinkedIn profile. She was known to visit a Starbucks roughly a block from the stabbing.

“I’ve seen her for a couple of months,” said Heather Thomas, the assistant manager at a Yonge and King St. Starbucks. “She was very antisocial.”

She said, nearly every day, Bisesar would “come in and always get an ice water or a coffee and would sit at a laptop turned away from the wall.”

“We knew that something was off because she would stand at the cash and give us a blank stare,” said Thomas.

Bisesar is due back in court Feb. 29, via video link.

With files from Star staff

Go to MSN Home

Go to MSN News