3 Hamilton men plead guilty to manslaughter for shooting 21-year-old, kidnapping father in 2021

Three men were sentenced to 17 years in prison for invading a Hamilton home, kidnapping resident Faqir Ali and shooting both his sons — killing one and injuring the other — in front of his wife and daughter.

At 2:43 a.m. on Sept. 16, 2021, John Bartley, Antoine Chambers and Gino McCall smashed the front door of the home on Glancaster Road in Mount Hope, startling the family awake and thrusting them into a "never-ending nightmare," Ali's wife Fauzia told the Ontario Superior Court of Justice earlier this month. 

The men pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, but guilty to manslaughter, kidnapping and aggravated assault in a joint submission supported by the Crown and defence. 

As the men entered the house, Ali's sons Hasnain, 21, and Sibtain, 23, confronted the intruders in the front foyer, assistant Crown attorney Eun-Joo Gloria Huh told the court. 

One of the men shot Hasnain in the abdomen and he later died in hospital. Sibtain was shot through his pelvis and survived, Huh said, reading from an agreed statement of facts. 

The men forced Ali down the stairs, pistol whipping him numerous times in the head and dragging him outside, she said. The men forced him into a dark SUV. 

The Crown said Ali's wife Fauzia and his daughters Sarah, 17, and Zahra, 12, watched the home invasion unfold and the shooting of Sibtain and Hasnain, who went by the nickname "Nano." 

Fauzia later told CBC Hamilton Sarah was in fact away and didn't witness the attack.

"I was helpless to save my children and it was happening right in front of me," Fauzia told the court as part of her victim impact statement. 

"I witnessed my husband being stolen away while my two sons fought men with guns for their lives. I watched them fall. I saw the blood of my sons. I can still hear Nano gasping for his last breath." 

Ali 'dumped' on road, says Crown

Chambers drove away in the SUV, which was stolen, with Ali sitting in the backseat flanked by Bartley and McCall, Huh said. They demanded $400,000 in cash. 

Ali was bloody and badly beaten, his face and nose fractured and finger broken, Huh said. He drifted in and out of consciousness while held at gunpoint as the men drove across the city. They made a couple of stops over the course of six hours but did not provide Ali with any first aid.

By 8:50 a.m., they were on Beach Boulevard near Jimmy Lomax Park when they seemed to give up on their plan to get money from Ali. 

"Mr. Ali, in a semi-conscious state, bloodied, and in his pyjamas, was discarded," Huh said. "He was dumped in a lane of live traffic during rush hour, subjecting him to further danger." 

The three men fled the scene in another car at high speed, which a citizen captured on video, she said. 

Ali was transported to the hospital and in a coma for 10 days, he told the court in his victim impact statement. 

"I only survived because I was in the hope I would see my lovely family — that they could be OK," he said. 

When Ali awoke to the news his son had died, he said he was "alive but dead again."

"The news was unbearable," he said. 

'You took away the brightest soul'

Hasnain's sister Sarah told the court he was a selfless, caring person with "sparkling eyes, contagious smile" and plans to become a lawyer. He died a hero, defending his family, she said. 

"You took away the brightest soul in a senseless act and your family will live with that burden," Sarah told Bartley, Chambers and McCall. 

"And that alone should make it unbearable for you to live with yourself. Your life will forever be overshadowed by this crime." 

All from Hamilton, Bartley, now 28, and McCall, now 37, expressed remorse through their lawyers and Chambers directly addressed the family.

"I'm here to take responsibility for my involvement in what happened," said the 29-year-old. "I have no malice or ill feelings towards the family. I understand the seriousness of it. I want to be able to better my life and change."

Chambers had no criminal record leading up to the home invasion, "which is quite shocking given the nature of why we are here," said his lawyer Monte MacGregor.

Bartley, a father of two children, has a short but related criminal record and has demonstrated "rehabilitation potential" since his arrest, said lawyer Chris Sewrattan. 

Prior murder conspiracy conviction

McCall has an extensive criminal record including conspiracy to commit murder of a man in Richmond, B.C., in 2015.

He was part of a "highly planned and targeted attempt that saw contracted hit men travel to British Columbia from Ontario for the purposes of killing the intended target," according to a news release by B.C. police from the time. 

In November 2017, McCall was sentenced to seven years in prison, but released on early parole, said his lawyer Rameez Sewani. 

McCall was working in construction around the time the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020 — less than three years after he was sentenced for conspiracy to commit murder. 

On Dec. 20, Justice Paul Sweeny accepted the Crown and defence's recommendation that the three men serve a 17-year prison sentence. 

The sentence is justified as the home invasion was planned, motivated by greed and had a "profound" impact on the victims, the judge said. 

A fourth man, Samson Dekamo, was charged in relation to the kidnapping of Ali. His case remains before the courts and will be heard in April 2025.