Man found guilty of murdering Halifax optician in December 2021
Police say Cymon Felix Cormier entered the business and attacked a staff member, identified by police as 55-year-old Tony Nader.
A man has been found guilty of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of a Halifax optician in December 2021.
Justice Christa Brothers delivered the verdict Thursday morning, telling the court she found the fatal stabbing of 55-year-old Tony Nader to be planned and deliberate.
She did not accept the defence's argument that the accused, Cymon Felix Cormier, was not criminally responsible.
Nader was stabbed while at his workplace, Insight Optometry, on Brunswick Street the morning of Dec. 30, 2021.
Another man was inside the business and tried to intervene. He too was attacked and sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
Nader later died in hospital from his stab wounds.
Cormier was arrested a short time later and charged with first-degree murder in Nader's death. He was also charged with aggravated assault for injuring the man who intervened.
Cormier was found guilty Thursday of the lesser charge of assault causing bodily harm for attacking that man.
More to come…
For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
20 minutes ago
- CTV News
Man injured in 2023 Winnipeg mass shooting dies in hospital; family wants attempted murder charge upgraded
A man shot during a 2023 mass shooting in Winnipeg has died in hospital and his family is speaking out. Jon Hendricks reports. The sole survivor of a mass shooting that killed four people nearly two years ago has died in hospital and his family is asking for the charge against the alleged shooter to be upgraded to second-degree murder. Shawn Marko died in hospital from pneumonia on June 1. He had been hospitalized since the shooting in a Langside Street home on Nov. 26, 2023. According to his sister Melissa, he had been celebrating his birthday with four friends when someone entered the home and shot everyone inside. Two people were pronounced dead at the scene, while two others died in hospital. 'He told us everything that happened,' Melissa said. 'He was the last one to be shot. All the other ones were shot first. He had all the (four victims) blood on him and everything.' Shawn was shot three times, with one bullet lodging in his spine. His large intestine and pancreas were removed, along with half of his bladder and stomach. He would remain hospitalized until his death. 'He phoned me and he was gasping for air, even with the oxygen on,' Melissa said. 'And he told me, 'I'm not going to make it this time.' And he was dead the very next morning.' Jamie Felix has been charged with four counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted murder in Marko's case. He remains in custody and none of the charges against him have been proven in court. Melissa now wants the attempted murder charge upgraded to a murder charge. 'He would never have been in the hospital had he not been shot,' she said. 'He was shot just like everybody else. He just lasted longer.' However, upgrading a charge isn't straight forward. Theodore Mariash, the lawyer representing Felix, said the Crown will have to meet the legal standard of proof as to whether or not the actions of the accused were a significant contributing cause of the death. 'With the other four victims it's very clear that, you know, their deaths are as a result of a homicide. But, with respect to Mr. Marko, it's not so cut and dried,' Mariash said. A spokesperson from the Government of Manitoba said in a statement to CTV News that 'Decisions about whether the charge will be upgraded will be made after all the relevant evidence has been obtained and reviewed.' Melissa said she is remembering her brother as the kind of person who loved being around other people, and who people loved being around. 'He loved just hanging around with his friends,' she said. 'They didn't have to be doing anything, they would just hang around.'
CTV News
20 minutes ago
- CTV News
Teen suffers life-altering injuries following machete attack, robbery
Portage Avenue and St. James Street in Winnipeg is pictured on June 20, 2025. (Jamie Dowsett/CTV News Winnipeg) Winnipeg police are looking for witnesses after a teenager was attacked with a machete and robbed by a group of youths one week ago. The incident took place Friday at 7:36 p.m. near Portage Avenue and St. James Street. Paramedics said they witnessed a youth attack another youth with a machete and called police. When officers arrived, they found the injured teen, who was also robbed during the attack. He was taken to hospital in unstable condition and treated for 'life-altering' injuries. The teen was later upgraded to stable condition. Police said several other youths were involved in the robbery. No arrests have been made. Anyone with information or who may have witnessed the incident are asked to call police at 204-986-6219 or Crime Stoppers.
CBC
31 minutes ago
- CBC
4 years after Toronto bought land to honour heritage oak, residents still waiting for promised parkette
Social Sharing Four years after the city of Toronto purchased a property where one of its oldest trees stands, the land around it still hasn't been transformed into the promised parkette — and locals say they want to know why. The city bought the suburban property at 76 Coral Gable Dr. in 2021 with the intention of demolishing a bungalow that sits on the 700-square metre lot and transforming the property into a parkette showcasing the tree. Estimated to be at least 250 years old and at about 24 metres tall, it towers over other trees in its Sheppard-Weston Road neighbourhood, about 300 metres from the Humber River. Construction had been scheduled to begin on the parkette in 2022 but the local councillor, Anthony Perruzza, told CBC Toronto the project has been hampered by a series of unforeseen delays. "I'm absolutely appalled," said Edith George, who lives around the corner from the tree and who has been campaigning to preserve the red oak for more than 20 years. "I'm not getting any younger and I want to see a parkette finished." Perruzza hopes to see shovels in the ground by the end of the year, but as yet, says "there's no commitment to an opening day for the parkette." That's frustrating to people who live in the area and who campaigned to help raise about half the property's $860,000 purchase price back in 2020 — a condition city councillors insisted had to be fulfilled for the city to buy the property and turn it into a parkette. Perruzza told CBC Toronto that when the city bought the property in late 2021, staff didn't realize there were tenants living in the house. Demolition work couldn't start until they moved out, which happened about two years ago, according to George. Roots and branches nearly envelop house Then there were bureaucratic snags with the demolition permit. Perruzza pointed out that city rules dictate a demolition permit can't be issued until a property owner — in this case the city — has presented a plan for the property's future development. Although a contractor has been hired, Perruzza says demolition can't start until the city has a design for the parkette. That still hasn't happened and won't until the landscape designer has been hired and has finalized a concept, in conjunction with members of the public. That work is expected to happen this summer, according to the city's website, although the page also warns "this timeline is subject to change." Once a demolition permit is issued, removing the structure won't be simple, Perruzza said, because the oak is only about a metre from the house. Its roots and branches virtually envelop the structure. "This isn't a place you can come into and tear down with machinery," he said. "People have to come in here and, by hand, remove it brick by brick and piece by piece." 'Living history' Alice Casselman, 87, a retired teacher and an environmental educator, helped with the fundraising campaign. She says she understands that park projects take time, but "bureaucracy should not take this long. "This parkette would be a fine statement of how we protect our heritage." Trevor Comer, a neighbourhood resident of Métis heritage, says the tree was a well-known wayfinding marker for both European explorers and Indigenous people as they travelled the nearby Humber River. "It's living history," Comer told CBC Toronto. He called the delays "disheartening." "We know things take time, but it's been a while." Judy Fricker, who's lived in the neighbourhood for 37 years, agreed. "It's very important to honour our past and to have something positive happening in our neighbourhood," she said. "The delays are such a disappointment." City staff told CBC Toronto in an email they "will develop a detailed tree protection plan for the demolition process. The City is considering the health and protection of the heritage oak tree at every stage of the process." Perruzza said he hopes that by the end of this year, the house will have been removed and the property graded, so the future parkette — and the red oak — will at least be accessible to the public.
