Thursday, September 26, 2002
Girls try thrill kill
2 Scarborough high school students held in attempted murder of cabbie
By JONATHAN KINGSTONE, TORONTO SUNMISSISSAUGA -- Two teenaged girls bent on terror left no doubt what they had in store for cabbie Mahd Hawari.
"We're going to have to kill him," Hawari remembers one of the girls saying as they tried to slash his throat late Tuesday.
"When she started to stab me, I thought I was going to die. There was blood all over. I was thinking of my wife, my kids," the father of two young children said.
"I just wanted to get away from (the teens). They really scared me, and I'm not scared of much."
Hawari, 33, overpowerd the girls and escaped with his life from the vicious attack.
Shortly after, a police dog found the teens, age 16 and 17, hiding in a wooded area of Mississauga's Birchwood Park.
They had tried to slash their wrists but were not seriously injured.
The two Scarborough high school students are charged with attempted murder and weapons offences.
"They weren't looking for money or to steal the taxi," Peel Regional Police Const. Heather Andrews said. "They indicated they were going to kill."
A police source said the girls attend a respected "academy" in Scarborough.
Hawari and his wife, Sumayya, 31, came to Canada from Jordan 10 months ago. An industrial engineer, he drove taxis on and off to support his family as he acquired the necessary licence to practise here.
He was on his second shift with the Blue and White cab company when he picked up the two "regular-looking" girls at the Clarkson GO station around 11 p.m. Tuesday
After a brief trip that came to less than $10, he was told to pull over at Birchwood Park.
"I was waiting for the money and, all of a sudden, they put the big knife against me. I was able to get the knife off my neck," he said, describing how he grabbed the blade with his hands and pulled it away.
"I threw it out my window.
"They grabbed me from the backseat and held me.
"One of them jumped out and grabbed the knife and started stabbing me all over."
Stabbed twice in the chest and slashed in the face, Hawari managed to put the taxi in drive, causing his attackers to flee.
Yesterday, after returning from the hospital with 35 stitches, he said he's done driving cab -- and so did his wife.
"I won't let him," Sumayya said. "I want him to be safe for me and our kids."
Copyright © 2002, Canoe, a division of Netgraphe Inc.