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March 4, 2005
Rozenzweig's killer gets life
Anti-Semitism determined not to have played a role in brutal slaying.
PAUL LUNGEN CANADIAN JEWISH NEWS
Toronto
The differences between the two men, as spelled out by Judge David
Watt, could not have been more striking.
On the one side, Christopher McBride, a self-confessed murderer,
a 20-year-old man who had not seen his biological parents since
he was four, a troubled individual who had been shunted between
no fewer than 25 foster homes and who had proven time and again
to be unmanageable, a man rarely employed and someone whose lengthy
rap sheet included crimes of violence and disregard for the justice
system and its rules.
On the other side, David Rosenzweig, a dedicated family man, a father
of six, a devoted husband, an esteemed professional and a "pillar
of his community," Judge Watt noted.
In the early morning hours of July 14, 2002, McBride, drunk and
angry, lashed out and murdered someone who was completely innocent,
"the last man standing" between McBride and an end to
his vicious rage.
For the crime of plunging a knife into Rosenzweig's back and killing
him, a life sentence was mandatory. The only issue left for Watt
to decide last week was the period of incarceration before McBride
could apply for parole.
Watt accepted a joint recommendation from lawyers for the Crown
and McBride and added five years to the statutory minimum of 10
years, leaving McBride eligible to apply for parole on July 16,
2017, 15 years after he was arrested for murdering Rosenzweig.
A visibly Orthodox Jew, Rosenzweig, 49, was killed outside a kosher
restaurant on Bathurst Street, just south of Lawrence Avenue. The
murder shocked the Jewish community and made headlines around the
world. Many saw it as part of a disturbing pattern of increasing
anti-Semitism worldwide and, at the time, Toronto police chief Julian
Fantino said police would investigate whether hate played a role
in the incident.
In setting the parole term, Watt noted that moments prior to stabbing
Rosenzweig, who was standing with his son Ezra waiting for a tow
truck, McBride had gone through a nearby kosher restaurant and yelled,
"fucking Jews" or "motherfucking Jews."
Nevertheless, Watt did not specifically state that religious hate
played a role in the crime or was an aggravating factor in the sentence.
He said the key elements in determining the sentence were the nature
of the offence, the character of the offender and the need to send
a clear message expressing society's revulsion at the crime.
"No sentence can restore David Rosenzweig to where he should
be, a living, breathing, vibrant contributor to family, friends
and his community," Watt stated.
In a statement read in court, Rosenzweig's widow, Chavi, described
the huge impact of his loss to his family.
Earlier, defence lawyer Jeff Shulman had asked the court to take
into account McBride's feelings of remorse, as well as his troubled
past. At age four, McBride was adopted, but at age 11 the family
had the adoption annulled. From age 11 to 15 he was shunted between
25 foster homes and at 13, he tried to kill himself. McBride suffered
from attention deficit disorder, had problems with anger management
and abused drugs and alcohol. (On the night in question, McBride
consumed the better part of two 40-oz. bottles of malt liquor, a
high-alcohol beer.)
Turning to the crime, Shulman called it "a brutal act of street
violence."
Rosenzweig, he said, was the victim of "displaced anger,"
as McBride was really hoping to get even with some teenagers who
had misled him about drugs.
"Anti-Semitism," he said, "was not the match that
ignited my client."
In his submissions, Crown attorney Fred Braley said the only mitigating
circumstance in sentencing McBride was his decision to plead guilty
and spare the Rosenzweig family the burden of reliving the incident.
After recounting part of McBride's lengthy criminal record, which
included a 1998 conviction for assault with a weapon, he said McBride
put himself into the position to commit murder by deciding to bring
a knife to the pizza restaurant, where he thought he would confront
the teens who had toyed with him when he approached them looking
for drugs.
Braley pointed out that McBride had swung the knife at a restaurant
employee who was not Jewish.
"Frustration had built up when he came across the last person
between him and his home," said Braley. "He was willing
to vent his frustration at someone who was completely innocent."
But, Braley continued, religious hate was "not an issue that
... we can or will be in a position of determining."
Although McBride used "obscene terms," hate did not appear
to be the motivating factor in the murder, Braley said. Rosenzweig
was "the last person in McBride's way. The fact he was Jewish
was a coincidence."
In subsequent phone conversations, McBride told friends that media
reports were wrong to suggest hate was a factor. "He said that
had nothing to do with it," Braley added.
Outside court, McBride's girlfriend, Mercedes Asante, 22, said religious
hate did not enter into the incident. "There was nothing in
there that was a hate crime," said Asante, who is black. "Obviously,
he's with me, so it can't be a hate crime.
"If he didn't like the Jewish community, he wouldn't have lived
in that area."
Asante, who attempted to restrain McBride that night, said, "I
feel horrible about the situation."
Choking back tears, she said, "It shouldn't have happened.
I don't know what to say to [Chavi Rosenzweig]. I'm sorry she had
to go through something like this."
Commenting on the sentence, Canadian Jewish Congress noted the Crown's
view that Rosenzweig's ethnicity did not play a part in the case.
"For our community, it is emotionally difficult to accept that
Rosenzweig's faith had nothing to do with his death, but the Crown
obviously felt there was insufficient evidence to support hate motivation
in the crime," said Joel Richler, chair of Congress's Ontario
region.
B'nai Brith Canada interpreted the judge's decision differently.
The Jewish lobby group said the sentence is "sufficient acknowledgement
of the hate element of this vicious crime.
"By significantly increasing the minimum period of eligibility
for parole from 10 to 15 years, the judge has implicitly recognized
the hate element of the crime," said Frank Dimant, executive
vice-president of B'nai Brith Canada.
"McBride did not lash out randomly, but sought out an identifiably
Jewish target in the heart of Toronto's Jewish community. From the
outset, B'nai Brith recognized this murder had all the hallmarks
of a hate crime," Dimant said.
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