Homicide victim's story from refugee to stowaway to Toronto told in film

From refugee to stowaway to father and engineer in Canada, Tesfaye Kassa’s life embodied survival and perseverance.

On Tuesday Oct. 4, the 46-year-old was with a group of people around 10:40 p.m. in Allan Gardens when he was stabbed and killed, becoming Toronto’s 53rd homicide victim of the year.

While friends are shocked, saddened and grieving, he’s also being remembered for his kindness, bravery and his incredible story, captured in a 2018 film created by a York University student.

“The character that was sculpted out of all those experiences was very fascinating and he ended up being a very close friend, a mentor, he was a very special person,“ filmmaker Daniel Negatu told CTV News Toronto in an interview Wednesday.

Tesfaye Kassa. (Courtesy of Daniel D. Negatu)

Sabir Haredo, 23, of no fixed address, has been arrested and charged with first degree murder. The motive remains unclear.

“Like why? Tesfaye doesn’t harm a soul,” Daniel Biru, who knew Kassa for 24 years, said. “He was a friend, a brother, an advisor, he was everything to me.”

Biru said Kassa always spoke up for democracy in Ethiopia and helped people in the neighbourhood around Allan Gardens where he lived, often giving money to people facing hardship. His family is raising money on GoFundMe for his funeral back home.

The friends met in South Africa. One day, in search of a better life they snuck on ship to Japan. Three days in, they were caught and thrown overboard on a raft into the middle of the Indian Ocean.

“I asked God to kill me right away. Seriously,” Kassa said in the film.

“He also helped in his own way, giving us hope. You will survive, like encouraging,” Biru said, recalling how Kassa handled the frightening circumstances.

“We thought the raft was going to have issues after a while, Tesfaye actually says, ‘Let me swim’, and pushes the raft, that kind of stuff. And we say you can’t try that, you know,” Biru adds with a smile.

Three days later, they washed up on the shores of Madagascar.

Kassa later married and had a daughter. The family was eventually accepted to come to Canada. In Halifax, he became an aircraft maintenance engineer.

Kassa had ups and downs after that. In the film, he recounts how he experienced racial profiling. After losing his job and separating with his wife, he came to Toronto. In 2017, he started working again in his field.

“He loved his country and his family, especially his daughter Sabba,” said Negatu, who he called the Queen.

Kassa also had affectionate nicknames. As a boy, family members called him Tarzan. Around Allan Gardens, people knew him as Kassa.

“He used to say God saved him from the ocean for a purpose. He felt a certain drive and mission,” Negatu said.

Negatu met Kassa at reggae concert in Dundas Square in 2016 while doing his masters degree.

Tesfaye Kassa holding an older version of Ethiopia's flag. (Facebook)“He tapped me from the back and says, ‘You looked Ethiopian’, and I’m like how did you know? ‘I know my people’," Kassa said, recalling Negatu with a smile.

Negatu later asked Kassa to do the film.

“He was more than willing. He wanted to share his story.”

“He’s a Canadian by heart. I think his soul was Ethiopian,” Biru said.

Kassa’s wife, Elisaberto hopes to collect enough money through the fundraiser to reunite him with the loved ones he left behind and his homeland.

She describes Kassa as funny with a bold sense of humour, and a golden heart.

“He was a man of God and passionate about helping people, and making difference,” she wrote in a statement. “He touched everyone he encountered.”

“Unfortunately, Sabba and I are going to have to continue our journey without him for real and for good, and that is also a bitter reality to face,” she said.