MANDEL: Mom lunges at daughter’s killer in court

Article content

He went hunting for “Canadians” as revenge against an eye surgeon he claimed had intentionally botched his operation.

Article content

Article content

Article content

“I was blinded by you Canadians, so I want to make you Canadians pay the price,” Neng Jia Jin would later explain to Toronto Police.

So Jin packed two knives on Dec. 8, 2022, wrapped his hands for protection and unleashed a frenzied attack on two innocent women aboard subway car 5161 as they approached High Park station – stabbing to death 31-year-old Vanessa Kurpiewska and almost killing mother of two Sulakshana Srijeyarayah.

Srijeyarayah, 37, miraculously survived his wild 27 slashes thanks only to the intervention of a Good Samaritan – Denys Matvyeyev.

The 55-year-old Chinese national, in the country illegally since 2010, was convicted Friday of first-degree murder and attempted murder after pleading guilty in February. Kurpiewska’s murder carries an automatic life sentence with no parole for 25 years; the only issue is the symbolic concurrent sentence for his attempt to kill Srijeyarayah.

Article content

Article content

Crown attorney Bev Richards urged Superior Court Justice Joan Barrett to impose another life term; Jin’s amicus, Jonathan Pyzer, called for 10 years.

It was a tense sentencing hearing from the start as Jin sat slumped in the prisoner’s box with his head bowed. Kurpiewska’s family was so overcome with anger that her grieving mother lunged at Jin and another man later slammed the box and shouted, “Hey, wake up.”

Their fury at the senseless slaying is so easy to understand. Why take the life of anyone, let alone an innocent stranger?

“Vanessa was a kind soul who loved life which was ended in such a cruel way. She was born with cerebral palsy and at a very young age, she defied the odds after being told she would never walk. She strived to be independent and wanted to travel the world,” her trembling sister Kamila told the court.

“It was a pure act of evil that took Vanessa away and will haunt our family forever,” she said. “There is not a day that we don’t think about what Vanessa has endured in her last moments. The nightmares have not stopped.”

Article content

Srijeyarayah’s nightmares continue as well.

It’s hard to believe the fear that must entail, but despite her deep physical and emotional scars, Jin’s surviving victim must still take public transit to work.

“I have no other choice but to live my life. I have two children that I have to take care of,” Srijeyarayah wrote in her statement.

She can no longer pick up her kids and always wears long sleeves to hide her scars from curious eyes – she can’t afford the $20,000 plastic surgery she needs to help them disappear.

“Every day I wake up in severe pain,” she wrote through a Tamil interpreter. “My freedom is completely lost. My hope is lost.”

But she is the lucky one.

“While talking about this, I also think about the dead girl in front of me,” Srijeyarayah wrote.

Also lucky to be alive is Patricia Keller, a petite blonde who closely resembles Kurpiewska and who the Crown suggested was Jin’s initial target.

Article content

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Play Video

According to the agreed statement of facts, Keller was on the platform at Royal York station at 12:20 p.m. when she tried hiding from the man staring at her, but he followed her on to the subway. She was so spooked that she rushed off just as the doors were closing.

“I still wake up at night having nightmares about the incident. I see the murderous eyes. The deadly stare will haunt me for the rest of my life,” Keller wrote in her statement.

His hunt continued.

Just before 2 p.m., Richards said Jin got on the eastbound Bloor train at Islington station. Already aboard car 5161 were Kurpiewska, Srijeyarayah and Matvyeyev, strangers all. Their lives would soon intertwine forever.

Jin had found his new victim.

After continually staring at Kurpiewska, he reached into his knapsack and wrapped his hands in cloth. After the train left Runnymede, Jin suddenly lunged and stabbed at her seven times with a knife in each hand.

Article content

Jin then turned his attention to Srijeyarayah, swinging one of his knives at her head as she struggled to defend herself.

In the midst of this horror, a hero came to her rescue.

Matyveyev kicked Jin and managed to dislodge one knife from his hand. He continued kicking him while Jin was still swinging his second blade, successfully connecting with Srijeyayyah several times until the Good Samaritan had him cornered so she could get away.

“All totaled, Mr. Jin has swung and missed, and stabbed his second victim approximately 27 times,” Richards said.

And then the soulless killer calmly took a swig of his drink.

Jin returns for sentencing May 20.

mmandel@postmedia.com

Article content