Following the sentence of three Toronto street gang members to life in prison with zero chance of parole for 25 years as a result of the 2018 murder of Nnamdi Ogba, an Electrical Engineer, Nnamdi’s mother said the killers of her son “chose a deadly path of destruction” when they plotted against “an innocent soul” that has no affiliation with the gang.
Nnamdi’s mother, Margaret Nwosu, read her victim impact statement while a virtual sentencing hearing was in progress on Tuesday morning.
She began the reading with: “My beloved son, my pride, my joy. The pain of losing you is beyond comprehension.”
She went further by saying that her “life and heart were ripped apart” on March 16, 2018 when Nnamdi, her 26-year-old son, who was about getting married, was murdered.
She said: “Two years, it’s never been the same.”
During the sentence hearing, Justice Robert who presided over the trial said Trevaughan Miller, Abdullahi Mohamed and Abdirahman Islow were cruising around the Scarlettwood Court area of Etobicoke on that fateful night “looking for someone to kill as part of an ongoing rivalry.”
Goldstein pointed out that the three men were members of a Toronto street gang that picked up fight with another gang that was operating in the Scarlettwood Road area.
The devlish men sighted Ogba and after that, Miller and Mohamed pulled out a gun and shot him from behind around 11 p.m.
Goldstein said Ogba, who was approaching his parked car after a visitation with his recreational soccer teammate, was hit by “several bullets” at the back and died at once.
The two men then got back into the awaiting getaway vehicle, being driven by Islow, and fled the scene.
Goldstein said the men did not show any remorse for their actions after the shooting as they even “celebrated the killing” and looked up news stories about it.
He said: “They were clearly not distraught or upset.”
The three men were declared guilty of first-degree murder on March 13, 2020.
Nwosu said in her statement that based on Nigerian culture, Ogba can be viewed by his younger brothers as a role model.
She said: “They looked up to you,” she said. “Their knight in shining armour is gone. He was the glue that held our family together, the man of the house, he was full of love, a handyman, he would fix any broken thing in the house.”
“They would always call him for help and he would always come through for them.”
Nwosu said it is “really unfortunate” that gangsters who murder innocent civilians “do not understand how they hurt people.”
