Hundreds gathered at a Toronto church Sunday to pay their final respects to a stabbing victim whose random murder sent shock waves through the city.
It was standing room only at the service of Nighisti Semret, who was laid to rest at St. Michael’s Eritrean Orthodox church.
Many who attended the service did not personally know the 55-year-old refugee but were nonetheless affected by the news of her murder.
“I thought it was important for the community to know they’re not alone,” Federal Liberal interim Leader Bob Rae told CTV Toronto. “This is very much a story that affected the whole city and the whole country.”
Rae was one of dozens who filled the church, located near Jane Street and St. Clair Avenue West, for the afternoon service.
Semret was stabbed to death in a Cabbagetown alleyway as she made her way home from work in the early-morning hours of Oct. 23.
A refugee from Eritrea and mother of four, Semret had immigrated to Canada in hopes of providing her family in African a better life.
Police said they believe the attack was random and have yet to make an arrest in the case.
Two of Semret’s cousins who travelled from Washington to attend the service and said it was difficult to believe their relative was really gone.
“Everyone’s been crying. It’s been hard so we came here to see finally that this really actually had happened,” said Sselesh Ghebrasalse. “We just missed her, we loved her. We wanted her to come to us, not die this way.”
Meanwhile, Semret’s husband Augustus Ntahobali is waiting for travel documents to be able to make the trip to Canada to bring his wife’s body home.
“It’s is so traumatic,” Ntahobali said during a phone interview from Uganda. “I mean up to now, I haven’t recovered from it.”
Ntahobali said he has reviewed the surveillance footage released by Toronto police that show the suspect hundreds of times over.
“Each time it is as if I am seeing it for the first time,” he said.
Police have gathered more than 200 hours of surveillance footage associated with the case, hoping video of the murder suspect and victim will jog the memory of potential witnesses to generate new leads.
Investigators have said they believe the suspect either lives in or is very familiar with the Cabbagetown area.
With a report from CTV Toronto’s Austin Delaney
