Crown urges maximum sentence for ‘worst offender’ in devastating stabbing

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When he was sentenced the first time for a violent stabbing, the family of Michael Post’s victim urged the Crown to lock him away “for a very long time.”

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That was 24 years ago, after Post pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of Michael Goldie-Ryder, 20, a popular Regina Mundi graduate who stepped in to break up a dispute over a cab ride on Jan 16, 1999, at the corner of York and Richmond streets.

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Goldie-Ryder’s death sparked widespread community outrage about downtown violence and was the impetus for the installation of surveillance cameras in the core that are now routine investigative tools used by police.

Post also pleaded guilty to the aggravated assault of a Fanshawe College student who also was stabbed by Post in the melee. In June 2000, Superior Court Justice Peter Hockin sentenced Post to the mandatory term for murder: Life with no chance of parole for 11 years.

On Tuesday, assistant Crown attorney Leren Duchame, at Post’s sentencing hearing for a life-altering aggravated assault, made the same request to Ontario Court Justice Brian White that Goldie-Ryder’s family made almost a quarter-century ago: Lock him up, again, for a long time.

Ducharme asked for 14 years, the maximum sentence available for stabbing Zaya Ballo, 37, who remains in long-term care, bed-bound, unable to speak or move. She also requested Post, 50, be given no credit for his 26 months of pre-sentence custody because his parole was revoked once he was arrested and Post currently is serving a life sentence.

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“Mr. Post has shown, with his record, that he is the worst offender. And for the crime itself, I submit that there is not a worse outcome for Mr. Ballo and his family,” Ducharme said.

She called the case “incredibly rare” when someone convicted of both murder and aggravated assault would stab someone else after gaining parole. She urged White, just as the community did two decades ago, to make public safety the top priority.

“Mr. Post has stabbed three people. He killed one, severely injured another and effectively ended the life of Mr. Ballo that night,” she said. “He is a high-risk for violent criminal behaviour.”

Ballo was critically stabbed over a $120 debt for marijuana on Sept. 18, 2022, in the lobby of a McNay Street apartment building where Post lived. Ducharme noted the fight “wasn’t about anything important . . . That should tell you Mr. Post is completely unhinged.”

An agreed statement of facts was entered into the court record at Post’s trial last June, where Post testified he was acting in self-defence, which White rejected.

What led to the stabbing was a series of cellphone text messages sent back and forth between Post and Ballo. They didn’t know each other well. Post had listed Ballo as “Mouthy Lil B—- Zaya” in his contacts, while Ballo simply had “Post” listed on his phone.

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The unfriendly discussion went on for more than two hours, with Post’s final text saying: “I don’t live there dummy tell her I said hello (sic)”  and led to Ballo heading over to the McNay Street building at about 10:45 p.m.

The stabbing happened near the elevator on the main floor and was caught on surveillance video. Ballo had a stick and Post had a knife. Post stabbed Ballo just once but the wound track entered his stomach, struck his liver and punctured his heart in two places.

Witnesses called 911 and Ballo, bleeding profusely, was laid on his back in the lobby. He was convulsing and unable to speak. His pulse was reported to be faint and his breathing was shallow. Police officers arrived at 1:49 p.m. and gave him chest compressions before he was rushed to hospital.

Ballo had no vital signs several times both at the apartment building and on the way to Victoria Hospital. He was in cardiac arrest and required emergency surgery. He was sedated and intubated at the critical-care trauma unit.

Since then, Ballo has been moved to other hospitals for rehabilitation and lives in long-term care. His family reported in five victim impact statements read into the court record by Ducharme that they try to have someone sit with him at all times and still look for any signs of recovery.

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They are devastated by what has happened.

“Every time I see him in the state that he’s in, it breaks my heart. He was always a loving, outgoing and happy individual,” Mary Horiya, one of his nieces, wrote.

“Now, when I visit with Zaya, he’s not able to speak with me or communicate with me. It’s essentially heartbreaking knowing he’s in pain when I visit him at the hospital and not able to help him or have him tell us what he wants or needs. Zaya is no longer the person he was and I don’t know if he will be his whole self again.”

Post wasn’t arrested until Sept. 27, 2022, nine days after the stabbing.

Post’s defence lawyer Brennan Smart argued for a six-year prison sentence pointing out the assault was not a random attack, but a single stab wound. “There was no gratuitous violence or injury inflicted by Mr. Post, although the stab wound he did inflict on Mr. Ballo had devastating consequences.”

He also urged White to give Post some credit for the harsh conditions in which he has lived since his arrest, particularly at the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre.

Post testified at the beginning of Tuesday’s hearing he has been subjected to overcrowding, flooding, constant fighting and constant violence. He was triple-bunked in a cell designed for two people for two or three months at EMDC. He has since been transferred to Stratford where he has participated in programming.

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He told the court he was granted parole in 2009. In 2018, he was arrested with three knives on him, one of them prohibited. He was sentenced to nine months and sent back to prison, but was later paroled again.

The judge asked Post near the end of the hearing if he had anything else to tell him. Post returned to his insistence the stabbing was in self-defence.

“I didn’t seek Mr. Ballo and his friends out that night. They came to me with serious intent to cause bodily harm. He got himself a weapon and attacked me,” he said.

“I wish circumstances could have been different. I wish they would have been different, but they can’t be. I’m trying to make something positive and to the family I truly apologize.”

White is expected to sentence Post on Jan. 28.

jsims@postmedia.com

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