The husband of a woman who was fatally stabbed in Cabbagetown while walking home from work Oct. 23 says he’s been “traumatized,” by his wife’s murder.
“It is so traumatic. I mean up to now I haven’t recovered from it, not at all. We are still very traumatized,” Augustus Ntahobali told CTV Toronto in a phone interview from Uganda.
Ntahobali’s wife, 55-year-old Nighisti Semret, was stabbed several times by a man who came up behind her as she walked near Wellesley Street East and Parliament Street in the early morning hours. The refugee from Eritrea had been working as a cleaner at the Delta Chelsea Hotel to try and save up enough money to bring the rest of her family to Canada.
Ntahobali said watching the surveillance video clips online of his wife being followed by her assailant was surreal.
“To be honest it’s like I almost fainted, you know? I couldn’t believe it. I saw it maybe 100 times and each time it was as if I am seeing it for the first time,” he said.
Ntahobali is trying to get a travel visa so he can come to Canada and bring home his wife’s remains. He said he’d also like a chance to confront his wife’s killer.
“I would like to see him in the eyes and stand in front of him and look at him,” he said.
But no one has been arrested so far. Police recently released photos of the clothes Semret wore the morning she was murdered in the hopes that the images would help them piece together the exact route she took home from work. They have also seized over 200 hours of surveillance footage. They are still appealing to anyone who may have witnessed anything that morning to come forward.
In the meantime a vigil was held by coworkers Friday night at the hotel where Semret worked. The goal was to try and raise money to help with funeral expenses and the cost of sending her body home.
