Always ... More of the Same

"I saw him when he was hitting. I didn't see exactly what was in his hand. Two persons. One hitting the other one."
"There was a fight, and I was afraid to have something happen to my car."
"The car was very  high-speed, scary speed; that's why I recall it."
Mohamad Tirami, taxi driver trial witness, Ottawa

Ahmed Hafizi, 22, accused in the murder trial for the death of Navid Niran, who was stabbed four times, twice in the stomach, and twice in the heart with a knife on Jan. 21, 2012, at a Dalhousie Street nightclub

The car that Mr. Tirami recalled seeing, speeding way into the night was an Infiniti G35, and in it were several men who had spent the evening at a ByWard Market bar. One of those in the speeding car was Ahmed Hafizi, now the accused in a first-degree murder trial. Mr. Hafizi is accused of killing Navid Niran, of stabbing him to death. The two had that evening clashed with one another. Mr. Hafizi was out with friends, and Mr. Niran had irritated him, repeatedly asking for a cigarette.
Mr. Tirami had just paused briefly between streets when he saw the deadly stabbing taking place. He watched as one man approached the other and then indulged in a series of underhand punches, only they weren't punches, they were a hand grasping a knife plunging that knife repeatedly in a deadly 11-second scenario into a surprised man who had just exited the bar.

Mr. Hafizi was so annoyed by Mr. Niran pestering him that he waited for the man to leave the bar, motivated by his irritation to do him grave harm.

The 24-year-old Niran had repeatedly requested that Mr. Hafizi, a complete stranger to him, give him a cigarette. Mr. Hafizi, 22, took his revenge by surprising the unaware Niran and fatally stabbing him, twice in the stomach and another two times in his heart, before expeditiously leaving the scene, via the speeding Infiniti G35.

Coincidentally in the shooting death of Marwan Arab at yet another restaurant in Ottawa, the friend of Mr. Arab who was with him that fatal night last week and whom police believe to have represented the targeted hit for the night is now under arrest. Behzad Behruzi was found in possession of crack cocaine and a 12-gauge shotgun which police feared might be used in a revenge murder. Two other friends of the murdered man were also taken into custody.

Mr. Behruzi is not only being held for that suspicion, but is scheduled to stand trial on break-and-enter, uttering threats and firearms charges. Mohamed Hamad Mohamed, 26, arrested with Behruzi is charged with assault causing bodily harm; he too was convicted of drug possession. Abad Abdi Shire, another arrested man representing yet another friend of the deceased was arrested on human trafficking charges and has an outstanding aggravated assault charge in London, Ontario as well as having been convicted of robbery in Toronto.

The nation's finest members of the community, with several things in common; they are young and they are Muslim, shiftless and criminal.

Photo of Behzad Behruzi from 2013. Behruzi was arrested on Tuesday in a move by police to thwart suspected retaliatory moves for Marwan Arab's fatal shooting on Sunday evening inside Shifa Restaurant on Cobden Road. Handout photo / Ottawa PoliceService