Accused GO train attacker convicted in earlier hate crimes probe

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Famed wrestling heel The Sheik’s life philosophy was a simple one.

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“I like to hurt people,” the longtime grappler said.

That catchphrase was also the title of a fabulously filthy 1985 documentary about The Sheik’s travels and tribulations through the bowels of the professional wrestling world.

This week, the trials and tribulations of one Christopher Otoo, 31, of Clarington, reminded me of The Sheik.

Otoo was arrested and charged with what cops called two “unprovoked” assaults on a Durham Region GO Transit train earlier this month.

According to cops, officers were called to the Pickering GO station on Nov. 11. A woman, 50, had been struck in the face multiple times on an eastbound train. The suspect then split. The victim was left with serious injuries.

Just two hours later, a 33-year-old woman on another eastbound train was assaulted by who police said was the same culprit. She suffered minor injuries.

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Durham Regional Police on Wednesday named Otoo as their suspect. He had been pinched by Toronto cops on Nov. 15 for an alleged trespassing incident. In addition, they alleged Otoo had stolen property.

Now, Toronto Police have charged Otoo with four counts of possession of property obtained by crime and that old chestnut, three counts of failing to comply with his probation order.

DRPS said Otoo will be charged with assault causing bodily harm, assault, theft under $5,000, and three counts of failing to comply with a probation order.

This will not be Otoo’s first rodeo. In 2020, he was hammered with a slew of charges in connection with a number of hate-motivated assaults in Toronto.

On Sept. 29, 2020, Toronto Police responded to a call for an assault that occurred near Celeste Dr. and Kingston Rd. A woman walking with her three-month-old baby was approached by Otoo, who was screaming racial slurs.

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He then threw a water bottle at the woman, hitting her in the shoulder. Otoo then picked up the water bottle and fired it again, this time hitting the mother in the face and getting water on the baby.

Detectives arrested Otoo and charged him with two counts of assault with a weapon.

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On June 4, 2020, a woman was on a southbound TTC subway, at York Mills Subway Station when Otoo nestled in close to her. That was at the height of the pandemic and she asked for space. Cops say Otoo spat on and punched the woman. He also tried to hit a Good Samaritan who attempted to intervene.

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On a TTC bus near Markham Rd. and Eglinton Ave. E. on June 7, 2020, Otoo began yelling racial slurs at a fellow passenger. He then allegedly spat on the victim and hit him on the head, knocking off his turban.

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The Dufferin station was the scene of the next attack on July 15, 2020. Two people on the subway platform were punched.

And on July 22, 2020, two people were approached by a man yelling racial slurs on the southbound bus headed to Kennedy Station. Otoo punched one victim in the ear and the other in the eye and ear.

Law enforcement sources confirm that Otoo was convicted and sentenced to three months in jail plus probation for his 2020 race-hate hissy fit. How did that work out?

None of the recent charges have been proven in court.

But here we are again. And as The Sheik coldly noted: “I like to hurt people.”

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@HunterTOSun

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