Father of missing teen Mariam Makhniashvili gets 6-year sentence

A man who stabbed three people after his daughter’s 2009 disappearance has been sentenced to six years in jail.

Judge Rebecca Rutherford read her decision in a Toronto court Thursday, acknowledging Vakhtang Makhniashvili’s mental illness and the fact he is living “a parent’s worst nightmare.”

Makhniashvili will serve four years and 11 months with a credit for pretrial custody.

He had pleaded guilty in May to three counts of aggravated assault, but Rutherford postponed his July sentencing hearing after he twice interrupted the proceedings with bizarre outbursts.

In 2010, Makhniashvili stabbed a neighbour in his Forest Hill building and attacked a married couple who helped him make bail after the incident.

Delores Langer, who has a long scar inside her left forearm, said, “I could never ever forget the screaming that came out of my husband. I hear it constantly, daily. I live with flashbacks, nightmares.”

A psychiatric report found Makhniashvili has a delusional disorder, and his daughter’s disappearance may have contributed to his violent behaviour.

His lawyer Calvin Barry said Makhniashvili will receive counselling and treatment in prison and that he could be out before serving out his entire sentence.

“He had a delusional disorder that explained away at least some of what happened,” Barry said. “Not enough for an acquittal or not guilty but enough for some compassion.”

Makhniashvili’s daughter Mariam was 17 years old when she disappeared on her way to school in September 2009 and hasn’t been found.

Police said Thursday they were reviewing new video from a recent tip about the case.

After the verdict, Makhniashvili’s wife went to 53 division to look at the video footage, but she told CityNews it wasn’t her daughter.

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