Northern Ontario Greyhound Incident
Anita Daher was riding a Greyhound bus in Northern Ontario on September 21st, 2008, when a stabbing occurred. She was sitting in the front seat, directly behind the entrance/exit, and spoke to the accused as he demanded to be let off. She also used her cell phone to call 911, as the driver's cell service wouldn't connect. She recounted the incident over and over for police, media, and a Greyhound insurance adjuster. For those curious, even though she writes crime fiction, no, she has no plans to turn this horrible event into a novel.
Video: CTV news report following the incident here. Anita relays a full account immediately after her arrival in Winnipeg Monday September 22 over the phone to the national news desk.
Video: CTV Winnipeg New Stacy Ashley report here.
Print: The following is a news story published in the Globe and Mail the day after the incident. Below it is one from the Sault Star from February 2009 after the accused pled guilty. It has details previously left out due to a publication ban.
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THE CANADIAN PRESS
September 22, 2008 at 7:43 PM EST
WHITE RIVER, Ont. — Passengers who witnessed a man viciously attack a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus bound for Winnipeg over the weekend are demanding to know why police put the alleged attacker on the bus in the first place.
Anita Daher, a Winnipeg author sitting behind the driver when the attack occurred, said she watched police put David Roberts on the bus in Wawa, Ont., on Sunday afternoon as it travelled west between Toronto and Winnipeg.
Shortly after, she heard a commotion from the back of the bus and saw a man clutching his chest in pain.
As Ms. Daher dialled 911, she said Roberts demanded to be let off the bus before the next scheduled stop near White River, roughly halfway between Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie. Police arrested him a short time later on the side of the Trans-Canada Highway.
Mr. Roberts, from Manitouwadge, about 400 kilometres east of Thunder Bay, was charged with aggravated assault and two counts of breach of probation. He is scheduled to appear for a bail hearing Tuesday morning.
It's unthinkable that another attack could have occurred after the gruesome beheading of a young carnival worker on a Greyhound in Manitoba this summer, Ms. Daher said.
It's also not clear why police would have put him on the bus in the first place, she added.
“I certainly want to know how this happened,” Ms. Daher said in an interview shortly after finally returning to Winnipeg on Monday afternoon. “I would certainly like to see some security measures put in place. We want to see Greyhound take action.”
Provincial police say they were “assisting” local officers with the alleged attacker shortly before he boarded the bus.
But Ontario Provincial Police Constable James Searle said he couldn't comment further since it occurred within the jurisdiction of local police.
“We're still looking to see if we can determine . . . a little bit more in terms of the actual chronology of the events,” Const. Searle said. “That investigative procedure is still ongoing.”
Calls to the Wawa police service weren't returned but CBC News reported local police arrested Mr. Roberts for causing a disturbance earlier on Sunday and released him.
Roberts reportedly requested psychological help and was taken to hospital by police where he was deemed not to be a threat, CBC said. Police then purchased him a bus ticket when he asked to go home, which the force says is common practice.
The victim and his attacker don't appear to have known each other so police are still trying to determine what motivated the attack, Const. Searle said.
The 20-year-old victim, who has not been identified, was taken to hospital in Wawa and later transferred to Sault Ste. Marie.
The man's injuries were not serious and he's expected to be released from hospital shortly, Const. Searle said. Although Ms. Daher said it wasn't clear whether the young victim had a deep wound or a shallow one, Const. Searle would not confirm the victim had been stabbed.
“Until that full investigation is completed, it's down as an assault at this time but he is charged with aggravated assault,” Const. Searle said.
Floyd Sabourin, a Pic Mobert First Nation resident who was riding the bus at the time of the incident, said he had been dozing near the alleged victim when he heard voices yelling about “someone having a knife.”
It wasn't clear if the victim had been stabbed, “but he was bleeding, anyway,” Mr. Sabourin told a Thunder Bay newspaper. “It was pretty loud.”
The incident hasn't soured him on taking the bus but Mr. Sabourin said something must be done to prevent future attacks.
The latest attack comes as Greyhound continues reviewing bus security — a taxpayer-funded “risk-assessment” which has been going on for more than a year-and-a-half.
Greyhound spokeswoman Abby Wambaugh wouldn't comment on the ongoing police investigation but said the bus company got a grant from Transport Canada to review the risks posed to passengers riding on bus lines like Greyhound.
The assessment looks at current security measures and whether changes need to be made, she said. But Ms. Wambaugh said she didn't know when the assessment might be finished.
“Once that's complete, we will work with (Transport Canada) and talk with them about our recommendations and discuss what — if any — security measures makes sense to be implemented for inner-city bus transportation,” Ms. Wambaugh said from Dallas.
Transport Canada wouldn't comment on the incident.
There were 14 passengers on board Sunday's bus to Winnipeg. After letting off the accused, the driver continued to White River, where an ambulance rushed the victim to hospital. The remaining passengers were questioned by police and then put back on a Reid Bus Line charter en route to Thunder Bay before heading to their final destination.
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Man pleads guilty to bus stabbing — Put on Greyhound by Wawa police
Posted By LINDA RICHARDSON, THE SAULT STAR
Feb 4/09
A Northwestern Ontario man was convicted Tuesday of aggravated assault for stabbing a Japanese exchange student on a Greyhound bus last September.
David Roberts pleaded guilty to the charge, along with two counts of breach of probation, when he appeared in a Sault Ste. Marie courtroom.
The 29-year-old Manitouwadge man, who has been in custody since the Sept. 21 attack, will be sentenced March 23 once a pre-sentence report is completed.
Roberts stabbed the sleeping 20-year-old man in the chest as the westbound bus approached White River.
The victim received a one-inch stab wound to the upper left chest and two smaller superficial wounds, prosecutor David Kirk said.
The injuries were not life threatening, the assistant Crown attorney told Ontario Court Justice Kristine Bignell.
"From reading the reports I don't believe it (the knife) penetrated the cavity,'' he said.
The attack came on the heels of a horrific stabbing and beheading of a passenger on an Edmonton to Winnipeg bus trip during the summer.
Roberts, put on the bus in Wawa by police, was sitting next to the University of Saskatchewan exchange student, who was travelling west with two friends after a visit to Toronto.
One of the passengers saw Roberts pull out a knife, stab the victim and then walk to the washroom at the back of the bus.
He returned with paper in his hand and attempted to wipe up the blood on the floor, Kirk said.
A friend of the victim, who was in the seat in front of him, described the attacker as "smiling and giggling.''
Roberts was insistent about getting off the bus, according to one of the passengers.
When he made a motion towards the controls, the driver pulled over and let him off, Kirk said.
The Ontario Provincial Police detachment in Wawa received a call at 4:15 p. m. that a Greyhound passenger had been stabbed and another passenger was walking along Highway 17, about three kilo-metres east of White River.
An officer picked up Roberts, whose hand was bleeding from a cut to his right pinkie finger, not long after that.
When he was searched a folding knife with blood on it was found in a rear pocket.
Analysis revealed the blood on the knife was the victim's and blood on the victim's clothing belonged to Roberts.
The court heard Roberts had a number of encounters with area police, beginning in the early morning hours of Sept. 20.
A Manitouwadge OPP officer spoke to him, about 15 kms south of the community, after receiving a call at 12:06 a. m. about a man walking along Highway 614.
He indicated he was walking to Marathon to visit his daughter.
O n Sept. 21, a Wawa OPP officer stopped to help Roberts, a stranded hitchhiker who had no money, and took him to the Wawa town police station.
The town police repeatedly offered to put him up in a cell for the night, Kirk said.
Roberts initially accepted the offer and then decided he was going to continue hitchhiking.
At about 2:50 a. m., police were contacted by a Broadway Avenue resident about an unwanted person on his roof.
Officers talked the man down and he was again offered an opportunity to spend the night at the Wawa police station, Kirk said.
Roberts, who said he wanted to go to the Sault, was arrested and taken to hospital, but there was no doctor available to see him.
At 8:55 a. m. he said wanted to hitchhike back to Manitouwadge, was released from custody and started walking towards the highway.
Police were still worried about him and contacted his employer in Manitouwadge to see if he would pay for a bus ticket for Roberts to return home.
Roberts returned to the station at about 1 p. m. and indicated he felt people were watching him and needed medication.
He was taken to hospital where he was given medication and then he was transported to the bus terminal, where a ticket was purchased.
After he got on the bus, police again contacted his employer who agreed to pick him up at the junction of Highway 614 and the Trans Canada Highway.