Panhandler sentenced to life in prison for Queen St. murder
Posted April 4, 2011 8:57 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A Toronto panhandler who fatally stabbed a 32-year-old St. Catharines man who refused to give her money has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 12 years.
Nicole Kish was found guilty last month of the second-degree murder of Ross Hammond, a conviction that carries an automatic life sentence.
The Crown was asking that she not be eligible for parole for 12 to 14 years. The defence wanted her to be able to apply in 10 years and is expected to appeal her conviction. Kish, who was 21 at the time of the murder, pleaded not guilty and didn’t take the stand during her trial.
“It’s terrifying to be continually punished for this crime I did not commit,” Kish said during the sentencing hearing Monday. “I am no murderer. If I caused the death of another human being I would have pleaded guilty. This is the stuff of nightmares. I did not kill Ross Hammond.”
Hammond’s wife, Kara, offered a victim impact statement. She said Ross was “the love of her life” and they were planning to start a family when she suddenly found herself a widow at the age of 33.
Ross Hammond’s mother and sister also spoke at the hearing.
Hammond was fatally stabbed on Aug. 8, 2007 during a dispute with Kish and three of her friends on Queen Street West, near Trinity Bellwoods Park. When Hammond refused a request for money, he got into an argument with Kish, which escalated, prompting her friends to join in.
Kish stabbed Hammond in the back and four times in the chest. The struggle played out in front of dozens of witnesses, including a packed Queen streetcar. Hammond managed to stagger to the steps of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church after the fight and died in hospital days later.
The three other attackers have already served time and have been deported to the United States.
