Toronto waterfront shooting suspect was awaiting sentencing for Montreal crypto torture
· Toronto Sun
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He allegedly drove hundreds of kilometres from Brampton to Montreal to beat and torture a man out of $15,000 in cryptocurrency.
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That’s according to evidence filed in a Montreal courtroom tasked with deciding the fate of Omar Abdul Singateh — the same man accused in Sunday morning’s shooting at the Rebel nightclub on the waterfront, who earlier this year also pleaded guilty in an August 2024 crypto robbery that left the victim tortured and beaten with a barbell.
Suspect allegedly exchanged gunfire, carjacked rideshare after Sunday shooting
Just before 3:30 a.m. Sunday, emergency crews were dispatched to an area near Polson St. and Cherry St. for reports of gunfire.
After exchanging gunfire with another person, Police accuse 25-year-old Singateh of carjacking a nearby rideshare vehicle with customers on board, striking vehicles and pedestrians in his attempt to flee the scene.
Singateh and another person were transported to hospital with gunshot wounds, along with a third person allegedly struck by Singateh in his attempt to flee.
All injuries are considered non-life-threatening, and a firearm was recovered from inside the vehicle.
Singateh, 25, of Brampton, faces numerous charges — including firearms offences, forcible confinement, and robbery.
These charges have not been tested in court.
‘Time to do a little torture’
Two months before Sunday’s shooting, Singateh plead guilty in a Montreal courtroom in connection with an August 2024 case where he and two accomplices were accused of torturing a man for hours in his Montreal condo as part of a violent cryptocurrency robbery.
According to French-language coverage of Singateh’s trial published by Le Journal de Montréal, Singateh drove to Montreal from Brampton to commit the crime, taking orders from an anonymous person via encrypted messaging app Signal.
“Try not to beat him up too badly. We might need facial recognition,” were among the orders Singateh received, court heard — armed with screenshots of the victim’s Instagram account, the victim’s address and a photo of the victim’s car.
Court heard that Singateh waited outside of the 32-year-old victim’s condo for over 24 hours before he and an accomplice barged their way in, tied him with zip-ties, and spent the next few hours torturing the man — with the anonymous contact instructing Singateh to turn on music and shove wet clothing into the victim’s mouth to muffle his screams.
The victim gave the trio $15,000, but they were convinced there was more.
“Time to do a little torture,” the anonymous person texted Singateh.
Singateh and his accomplices then beat the man with a barbell, broke his fingers, and threatened to do the same to his father.
When the victim didn’t give up any more money, the trio left at around 3 p.m.
In May, Singateh plead guilty to unlawful confinement, breaking-and-entering, armed robbery and assault causing bodily harm, shortly before his trial was set to begin.
According to Montreal media reports, Singateh was scheduled to return to court in October.