Toronto court hears from slain rapper's family at getaway driver's sentencing

“He was on his way to greatness and you took his life before he could reach his true potential….Why would you have done this to all of us?”

That’s what a Toronto courtroom heard from the mother of Dimarjio Jenkins at a sentencing hearing for the getaway driver involved in the up-and-coming rapper’s deadly 2020 shooting.

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“He was just a great person inside and out. Who you would have loved if you’d gotten to know him,” Sofia Bent-Biggs wrote in her victim impact statement delivered Thursday.

Jenkins, who performed as Houdini, was gunned down in a brazen daylight shooting in downtown Toronto on May 26, 2020.

In November, Cjay Hobbs was convicted of second-degree murder for his role as the getaway driver in the shooting that saw 23 bullets fly outside the Bisha Hotel in the city’s busy entertainment district.

“It is so hurtful to see Cjay Hobbs snatch his life and dreams with him,” Jenkin’s aunt, Dionne Christian, wrote in her impact statement. “At the time of his death, his common-law wife was pregnant…It pains me to see DJ will not see the wonderful child he created.”

Dimarjio Jenkins, known as "Houdini," is seen in this undated image. (Instagram)

Hobbs faces an automatic life sentence for his part in the murder, but the judge does have discretion to grant him parole in as little as 10 years, which the Crown argued is too short and asked for no parole for 16 to 18 years.

“Tens of millions of people had heard his music on Spotify…He came from humble beginnings…He certainly didn’t deserve to die in an alleyway,” Crown Attorney Arian Khader said.

The Crown played video of the shooting, which saw two of Jenkin’s associates return fire at the Volkswagen Tiguan that was targeting the rapper. A 15-year-old boy and a 27-year-old woman were also injured in the crossfire and bullets nearly missed a six-year-old boy.

“Bullets flew over the child’s head…The only reason these people weren’t hit…was sheer luck,” Khader said.

Hobb’s defence lawyer asked for parole after 12 years and said his client’s criminal record is not as “gruesome” as it has been portrayed.

Superior Court Justice Brian O’Mara asked Hobbs if he had anything he wanted to say at the end of Thursday’s hearing, to which he replied “no.”

Toronto Police work the scene of a shooting in downtown Toronto, Tuesday, May 26, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

Hobbs is charged separately with first-degree murder in the 2020 death of 12-year-old Dante Andreatta Marroqui who was struck by a bullet while walking with his mother along a North York sidewalk.

In the summer of 2022, Peel police said they made an arrest in connection with Jenkins’ homicide. The suspect from Brampton was a youth at the time of Jenkins’ murder and cannot be identified under the terms of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. What role they played in the murder and the status of their legal proceedings are unclear.

Hobbs is set to return to court on Feb. 23 to be sentenced.

With files from CTV News Toronto's Janice Golding