Ottawa teenager stabbed, witness says over cellphone sale

CTV Ottawa: Stabbing in Barrhaven CTV's Joanne Schnurr report on overnight stabbing in Barrhaven, a possible link to the online sale of a cell phone.

A 19-year-old Ottawa man was stabbed last night near the McDonald’s Restaurant on Fallowfield in Barrhaven.  He managed to stumble into the restaurant, where employees called for help.  Police aren't saying much about what prompted the attack.  But witnesses believe it had to do with a Kijiji sale over a cellphone that went wrong. Robert Barker was driving by the restaurant last night when he saw police cars and an ambulance.  He stopped to snap a photo and speak with a man he believes was the manager of the fast food chain.

"He said some 19-year-old kid was selling his cell phone on Kijiji,” says Barker, “and he saw them and the kid got stabbed, trying to take his wallet and his phone whatever.”

Paramedics say they treated the young man for serious stab wounds.  Police aren't saying much about the case at all.

Staff-Sergeant Mike Haarbosch is with the Robbery Unit of the Ottawa Police, "At this point all I can do is confirm the investigation is underway about a male who was reportedly robbed at the McDonald’s on Fallowfield.”

While the stabbing may unnerve residents in the Barrhaven neighborhood, police are encouraged that personal robberies and swarmings have actually dropped 40% over last year.  Staff-Sergeant Haarbosch says year to date, there have been 38 personal robberies, compared to 53 last year, and 60 swarmings compared to 109 last year.  Police believe the decrease may have something to do with the country's new cellphone blacklist that prevents anyone from actually using a stolen cellphone that is registered on that list.

"Each phone has unique electronic identification number,” explains Haarbosch,”and that's what is recorded on the blacklist and when they try to reactivate the phone, that's when the provider will say "Sorry, the phone's been blacklisted, we won't reactivate it.”

That is happening in cellphone stores across Canada, most often with customers who have bought used phones over the internet.

Basel Shamma is a manager with Fido, “We get tons of customers who walk in. We check their phones and most of them are blacklisted, either stolen or warranty fraud.”

You don't have to walk far to find someone who's had their cellphone stolen.

“On the bus, I had it on my lap,” explains Hollis Maradyn, whose cellphone was stolen last year, “and some people walked by, they bump into you and sweep it off your lap.”

“I was at a bar with friends,” says Lexi Morton about her stolen cellphone, “and I had it in front of me and someone knocked into me and it was gone.”

The blacklist was formulated by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) on October 1 of 2013.  If a cellphone is lost or stolen, the owner’s cellphone provider will add it to this national database so it cannot be used anywhere in North America.

It cannot prevent bad sales, if that is indeed what happened in Barrhaven last night but the hope is that it will stop the sale of stolen phones.

“First time I've heard about it,” says Patrick Filipik, whose phone was also stolen, “sounds good though.”

Last year in Ontario, more than 38-thousand cellphones were stolen; 85-thousand across the country.  While that number is high, the good news is that number is actually dropping.

http://www.protectyourdata.ca/