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Man allegedly threatened TTC passengers while on probation for subway stabbing

Last Updated Aug 22, 2016 at 7:26 pm EDT

A man has been charged after he allegedly threatened passengers on the subway this month, while on probation for stabbing a fellow TTC passenger in 2013.

Cassim Cummings was in a Toronto court on Monday to face two counts of mischief, two counts of assaulting a peace officer and failure to comply with a probation order. He was remanded into custody until Friday, when he’s due back in court.

It’s alleged Cummings boarded a train at St. Clair and started threatening passengers. Police pulled him off the train at Summerhill after someone pressed the passenger assistance alarm.

Cummings has a long history of violence on the TTC and dozens of prior convictions.

In May 2015, he was sentenced to four years in jail for the random stabbing of a stranger on a TTC subway near Davisville Station in February 2013.

Also that month, he was charged with two counts of assault and one of threatening bodily harm for incidents at Finch and North York Centre stations. He allegedly choked and threatened a man and repeatedly punched a security guard.


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“Judges are reluctant to place a prohibition on riding the TTC … because they would be removing the person’s only method of transportation,” said defence lawyer Jordan Donich, who often works with people charged with disturbances on TTC property.

“Judges do not want to see [lack of transportation] as a reason for not showing up in court.”

Donich said judges tend to order the accused to keep the peace and be of good behaviour.

In 2013, Cummings’ mother said he is schizophrenic, bipolar and psychotic and hadn’t been taking his medication.