Self-centred act of violence: Man gets life sentence for unprovoked fatal TTC stabbing [Video]

A Toronto man who fatally stabbed a stranger at a TTC subway station has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 18 years.

Jordan O’Brien-Tobin, 24, was given his sentence by Superior Court Justice Jane Kelly in a downtown courtroom on Friday, nearly two years after the killing of 16-year-old Gabriel Magalhaes in 2023.

O’Brien-Tobin pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in November 2024. The charge carries an automatic life sentence, but at issue was the period of parole ineligibility between 10 and 25 years. The Crown had been asking for a period of 18 years, while the defence was seeking 12 years.

“It was random and it was a self-centred act of violence. Had Gabriel not been there that day, someone else’s friend, son, could have been a victim of Mr. O’Brien-Tobin’s senseless crime,” Kelly said.

“It seemed planned. Mr. O’Brien-Tobin seems likely to reoffend. He is a danger to …