Man sentenced to life with no chance of parole for 18 years for ‘senseless’ stabbing of teen on TTC

February 28, 2025 Canuck

Nearly two years after he fatally stabbed a teenager waiting on a TTC subway platform, Jordan O’Brien-Tobin has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 18 years.

Justice Jane Kelly handed down the sentence in a Toronto courtroom Friday, describing the murder of 16-year-old Gabriel Magalhaes as a “self-centered act of violence” and a “senseless crime.”

O’Brien-Tobin, 22, had admitted to approaching Magalhaes at Keele Station in March 2023 and stabbing him in the chest. According to an agreed statement of facts, the stabbing was unprovoked.

His guilty plea for second-degree murder meant a life sentence was guaranteed, but did leave open how long he would be ineligible for parole.

On Friday, Kelly opted for the high end of what the Crown had been seeking. The Crown had requested between 16 to 18 years of parole ineligibility, while the defence sought 10 to 14 years.

O’Brien-Tobin ‘seems likely to re-offend,’ says judge

In her judgement, Kelly described the aggravating factors that led her to make her decision, writing that O’Brien-Tobin’s crime led to an “unimaginable loss” for Magalhaes’ family and a “deterioration” of the public’s sense of safety on the TTC.

She noted that there was an element of planning in the crime, with O’Brien-Tobin sending text messages before the attack predicting someone would die that night, and texts afterwards saying he had just stabbed “someone random.

“He showed absolutely no remorse for his conduct and appeared boastful of his heinous act,” she wrote.

A memorial for 16-year-old Gabriel Magalhaes, who died after being stabbed at Keele subway station, is pictured in Toronto near the doors of the station. — A memorial set up for Gabriel Magalhaes at Keele Station in the weeks after his death in March, 2023. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)

Kelly also took into account O’Brien-Tobin’s lengthy criminal history, both in Ontario and his home province of Newfoundland.

“Mr. O’Brien-Tobin is not a first offender, but instead has almost 200 convictions on his record,” she wrote, later concluding that “he seems likely to re-offend,” and represents a danger to the community.

At an earlier sentencing hearing, the court heard victim impact statements from Magalhaes’ parents and TTC workers who were with the teenager on the night he died.

“I feel that I failed my life. I failed the single most important job of my existence: to keep my son safe,” wrote his mother.

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