MURDER ON MOUNT OLIVE: BACKGROUND: From a previous post of this Blog:
(June 5, 2026): "Chris Sheriffe: Ontario: Major (most unusual) Development; (Murder On Mount Olive hearing): As my former Toronto Star colleague Toronto Star Chief Investigative Reporter Kevin Donovan reports, "One of two men convicted of first-degree murder in the death of a Toronto furniture maker 16 years ago has changed his story in a reversal that could have significant consequences for Christopher Sheriffe — the co-accused man who continues to argue his conviction was a “miscarriage of justice," noting that: "Awet Asfaha had long maintained his innocence in the shooting of Bishen Golaub outside a neighbourhood barbecue on Mount Olive Drive in Etobicoke on a sweltering afternoon in August 2009. In a profanity-laced police interview and at trial, he claimed he knew nothing about the murder, and a mysterious man on the street was the real shooter. On Thursday, court heard he has now confessed to the shooting, and both earlier stories were “a lie.”"
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The jury is expected to be sequestered later this week and begin deliberations. They will be asked to determine if Asfaha’s parole eligibility should be lowered. If it is lowered, it will still be up to the National Parole Board to determine if he should be released."
STORY: "In bid for early parole, admitted Toronto murderer claims he shot innocent stranger ‘to gain stripes’ with gangsters," by Toronto Star Chief Investigative Reporter Kevin Donovan, published on June 17, 2026.
SUB-HEADING: “I was thinking of approval, if I don’t do this, nobody’s going to take me seriously,” Awet Asfaha told the court at his “faint hope” hearing.
PHOTO CAPTION: "Awet Asfaha testifies at his “faint hope” hearing in Toronto before Justice Breese Davies, top left. Asfaha has admitted to killing Bishen Golaub, a stranger, in 2009 “to gain stripes” with a gang."
Seeking “approval” from gangs, Awet Asfaha walked up to a total stranger on Mount Olive Drive in 2009 and pumped three shots into his back, the convicted murderer has testified in his bid to get early parole from a life sentence.
“To gain stripes,” Awet Asfaha told a jury at his “faint hope” hearing, explaining the shooting was like an initiation into gang membership. “To be taken more serious.”
The victim, Bishen Golaub, was a husband, father of four, stepdad to one, and a much-loved worker at a furniture manufacturing company. He had no gang affiliations, but Asfaha said he gave no thought to the victim that day.
“I was thinking of approval, if I don’t do this, nobody’s going to take me seriously,” he told court, his voice never rising or falling throughout two days of testimony.
Bullied as a child, abused by his father, struggling with body image issues and alcohol, the then 24-year-old Asfaha said he hung around with members of several gangs in his north Etobicoke neighbourhood. He had a criminal record for drug trafficking, had held and fired a gun before; he’d go out in a field and take random shots. That’s the only firearms experience he said he had when, on a hot August day, he pulled a hoodie over his head, carrying a “revolver” and walked down Mount Olive Drive. On the street was a 34-year-old man standing outside a chain-link fence, waiting to see if the food at a barbecue was ready.
“I walked to where Bishen was standing,” said Asfaha. “I shot him three times, and I walked back or I ran back.” As the Star has reported, the driver of the car Asfaha had been in was Christopher Sheriffe, a one-time soccer star who was set to begin a career as a carpenter. Sheriffe, now also serving a life sentence, maintains he is innocent. He claims he had been asked by Asfaha to pull over when he was driving home from an impromptu night of partying.
Sheriffe, who was convicted as the getaway driver, claims a "miscarriage of justice" and is applying for a federal review of his conviction.
Asfaha’s sentence denied him the right to apply for parole before 2034. His bid for early parole began last week in a Toronto courtroom. His defence lawyer, Breana Vandebeek, brought a parade of friendly witnesses to court — prison guards, a life coach, a theatre director — who all said Asfaha deserves a second chance.
Taking accountability for criminal actions is one of the unwritten rules in hearings like these, and Asfaha has long denied involvement in the murder. Now serving his sentence in a minimum-security, cottage-like prison with seven private beaches on Vancouver Island, Asfaha said he is hoping to one day give back to the community, possibly teaching young people to cook and running a food truck. He was transferred last year from a medium-security institution, where he kept a cat, Peanut.
Awet Asfaha’s late confession to the murder of Bishen Golaub
In front of a jury of 11 (one member was excused earlier for a reason that cannot yet be reported), Asfaha testified for two days, beginning with the crime itself. On the day of the shooting, Asfaha said he thought a man wearing red at the gate to the barbecue was a rival gang member (Asfaha associated with the Crips, who wear blue — the Bloods wear red). When police arrested Asfaha hours later, he unleashed a torrent of profanity, yelling at homicide detectives that nobody would care about a gang member being killed. But he said, if they really wanted to close the case, they should stop wasting time with him. He knew nothing and had merely been on his “way to see some b——-s.”
“Go back into your f—-ing car and go drive!” he told the detectives. “Take me to f—-ing court. Don’t f—-ing talk to me. You guys are killing me, bro.”
Asfaha was not asked in court whether his actions ever gained him approval with gangsters.
Today, Asfaha said he feels great remorse over what he did. In 2017, shortly after the Supreme Court of Canada denied his appeal, Asfaha confessed to his family that he was the shooter. His sister Sara testified at the hearing, saying her brother “told me he was trying to get in with gang members.”
Asfaha told court he has had many years to reflect.
A man was shot at a Toronto barbecue. Another is in jail for life. The Star reinvestigated the case and found flaws — was the right person convicted?
“I feel terrible. I feel that an innocent person, a father, a good member of society, a husband, a son … I feel really, really terrible, I’ve pretty much done what happened to me to (Golaub’s sons),” Asfaha said. “I took out a good, strong role model away from them (and) that could potentially cause them to go down the wrong path.”
His comments — equating the loss Golaub’s sons experienced to Asfaha’s own upbringing by a father who was not always supportive — took some in the courtroom by surprise. Asfaha later apologized when crown attorney Katherine Rogozinski drew it to his attention.
“Your father wasn’t murdered, though, when you were a teenager?” Rogozinski asked Asfaha. He agreed.
“No one took your dad away by killing him, right?” Again, Asfaha agreed.
“Did you say that because you were looking for sympathy from the jury?”
Asfaha replied: “I was just pointing out that I was a hypocrite. But the way you are pointing it out now, I had no right. I’m sorry.”
As to his lying about who did the shooting, Asfaha told the jury, “I was trying to get away with it. I was ashamed, thinking of preserving myself.”
Awet Asfaha’s cross-examination — ‘Have you always been a good liar?’
While many previous witnesses, including prison guards, had testified that they believed Asfaha was a changed man, Rogozinski, in a withering cross-examination, asked if Asfaha was lying now, just as he had years before to the 2012 jury that convicted him.
“Have you heard of the term ‘Machiavellian,’” Rogozinski asked. When Asfaha said he didn’t know its meaning, Rogozinski replied: “A personality or behaviour characterized by cunningness, deceit and a calculated disregard for morality in pursuit of self-interest or power.”
Asfaha said he used to be like that. He agreed that at the original trial, he invented a mysterious, braided gunman who did the shooting, then ran to the car he was in, and they took off.
Rogozinski pointed out the rich detail in that testimony, including his own fear of being shot by the braided man, the phantom killer’s clothing, the way his eyes stared and his body odour. “Have you always been a good liar?” Rogozinski asked Asfaha.
“I worked hard at this lie,” Asfaha replied.
Rogozinski put it to Asfaha that, similar to how he recently acted in a play he wrote in prison, he gave a “performance to the (2012) jury” that, she said, “sounds like an action movie.”
Asfaha agreed with Rogozinski. The crown put it to Asfaha that he is doing the same thing now, “trying to leave a certain impression of yourself with the jury.”
Asfaha replied: “Now, no.”
Asked about his behaviour if he was released, Asfaha referred to the people who have spoken up for him during the hearing, saying that they have taught him how to approach the temptation of drugs or “subculture or negative associates.” He said he would reach out to the people who supported him for guidance or “by removing myself from the situation.”
Some of Asfaha’s testimony and portions of trial exhibits are under a publication ban ordered by Justice Breese Davies.
The case was the subject of a Toronto Star podcast and series.
The jury is expected to be sequestered later this week and begin deliberations. They will be asked to determine if Asfaha’s parole eligibility should be lowered. If it is lowered, it will still be up to the National Parole Board to determine if he should be released."
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The jury is expected to be sequestered later this week and begin deliberations. They will be asked to determine if Asfaha’s parole eligibility should be lowered. If it is lowered, it will still be up to the National Parole Board to determine if he should be released."
-----------------------------------------
STORY: "In bid for early parole, admitted Toronto murderer claims he shot innocent stranger ‘to gain stripes’ with gangsters," by Toronto Star Chief Investigative Reporter Kevin Donovan, published on June 17, 2026.
SUB-HEADING: “I was thinking of approval, if I don’t do this, nobody’s going to take me seriously,” Awet Asfaha told the court at his “faint hope” hearing.
PHOTO CAPTION: "Awet Asfaha testifies at his “faint hope” hearing in Toronto before Justice Breese Davies, top left. Asfaha has admitted to killing Bishen Golaub, a stranger, in 2009 “to gain stripes” with a gang."
Seeking “approval” from gangs, Awet Asfaha walked up to a total stranger on Mount Olive Drive in 2009 and pumped three shots into his back, the convicted murderer has testified in his bid to get early parole from a life sentence.
“To gain stripes,” Awet Asfaha told a jury at his “faint hope” hearing, explaining the shooting was like an initiation into gang membership. “To be taken more serious.”
The victim, Bishen Golaub, was a husband, father of four, stepdad to one, and a much-loved worker at a furniture manufacturing company. He had no gang affiliations, but Asfaha said he gave no thought to the victim that day.
“I was thinking of approval, if I don’t do this, nobody’s going to take me seriously,” he told court, his voice never rising or falling throughout two days of testimony.
Bullied as a child, abused by his father, struggling with body image issues and alcohol, the then 24-year-old Asfaha said he hung around with members of several gangs in his north Etobicoke neighbourhood. He had a criminal record for drug trafficking, had held and fired a gun before; he’d go out in a field and take random shots. That’s the only firearms experience he said he had when, on a hot August day, he pulled a hoodie over his head, carrying a “revolver” and walked down Mount Olive Drive. On the street was a 34-year-old man standing outside a chain-link fence, waiting to see if the food at a barbecue was ready.
“I walked to where Bishen was standing,” said Asfaha. “I shot him three times, and I walked back or I ran back.” As the Star has reported, the driver of the car Asfaha had been in was Christopher Sheriffe, a one-time soccer star who was set to begin a career as a carpenter. Sheriffe, now also serving a life sentence, maintains he is innocent. He claims he had been asked by Asfaha to pull over when he was driving home from an impromptu night of partying.
Sheriffe, who was convicted as the getaway driver, claims a "miscarriage of justice" and is applying for a federal review of his conviction.
Asfaha’s sentence denied him the right to apply for parole before 2034. His bid for early parole began last week in a Toronto courtroom. His defence lawyer, Breana Vandebeek, brought a parade of friendly witnesses to court — prison guards, a life coach, a theatre director — who all said Asfaha deserves a second chance.
Taking accountability for criminal actions is one of the unwritten rules in hearings like these, and Asfaha has long denied involvement in the murder. Now serving his sentence in a minimum-security, cottage-like prison with seven private beaches on Vancouver Island, Asfaha said he is hoping to one day give back to the community, possibly teaching young people to cook and running a food truck. He was transferred last year from a medium-security institution, where he kept a cat, Peanut.
Awet Asfaha’s late confession to the murder of Bishen Golaub
In front of a jury of 11 (one member was excused earlier for a reason that cannot yet be reported), Asfaha testified for two days, beginning with the crime itself. On the day of the shooting, Asfaha said he thought a man wearing red at the gate to the barbecue was a rival gang member (Asfaha associated with the Crips, who wear blue — the Bloods wear red). When police arrested Asfaha hours later, he unleashed a torrent of profanity, yelling at homicide detectives that nobody would care about a gang member being killed. But he said, if they really wanted to close the case, they should stop wasting time with him. He knew nothing and had merely been on his “way to see some b——-s.”
“Go back into your f—-ing car and go drive!” he told the detectives. “Take me to f—-ing court. Don’t f—-ing talk to me. You guys are killing me, bro.”
Asfaha was not asked in court whether his actions ever gained him approval with gangsters.
Today, Asfaha said he feels great remorse over what he did. In 2017, shortly after the Supreme Court of Canada denied his appeal, Asfaha confessed to his family that he was the shooter. His sister Sara testified at the hearing, saying her brother “told me he was trying to get in with gang members.”
Asfaha told court he has had many years to reflect.
A man was shot at a Toronto barbecue. Another is in jail for life. The Star reinvestigated the case and found flaws — was the right person convicted?
“I feel terrible. I feel that an innocent person, a father, a good member of society, a husband, a son … I feel really, really terrible, I’ve pretty much done what happened to me to (Golaub’s sons),” Asfaha said. “I took out a good, strong role model away from them (and) that could potentially cause them to go down the wrong path.”
His comments — equating the loss Golaub’s sons experienced to Asfaha’s own upbringing by a father who was not always supportive — took some in the courtroom by surprise. Asfaha later apologized when crown attorney Katherine Rogozinski drew it to his attention.
“Your father wasn’t murdered, though, when you were a teenager?” Rogozinski asked Asfaha. He agreed.
“No one took your dad away by killing him, right?” Again, Asfaha agreed.
“Did you say that because you were looking for sympathy from the jury?”
Asfaha replied: “I was just pointing out that I was a hypocrite. But the way you are pointing it out now, I had no right. I’m sorry.”
As to his lying about who did the shooting, Asfaha told the jury, “I was trying to get away with it. I was ashamed, thinking of preserving myself.”
Awet Asfaha’s cross-examination — ‘Have you always been a good liar?’
While many previous witnesses, including prison guards, had testified that they believed Asfaha was a changed man, Rogozinski, in a withering cross-examination, asked if Asfaha was lying now, just as he had years before to the 2012 jury that convicted him.
“Have you heard of the term ‘Machiavellian,’” Rogozinski asked. When Asfaha said he didn’t know its meaning, Rogozinski replied: “A personality or behaviour characterized by cunningness, deceit and a calculated disregard for morality in pursuit of self-interest or power.”
Asfaha said he used to be like that. He agreed that at the original trial, he invented a mysterious, braided gunman who did the shooting, then ran to the car he was in, and they took off.
Rogozinski pointed out the rich detail in that testimony, including his own fear of being shot by the braided man, the phantom killer’s clothing, the way his eyes stared and his body odour. “Have you always been a good liar?” Rogozinski asked Asfaha.
“I worked hard at this lie,” Asfaha replied.
Rogozinski put it to Asfaha that, similar to how he recently acted in a play he wrote in prison, he gave a “performance to the (2012) jury” that, she said, “sounds like an action movie.”
Asfaha agreed with Rogozinski. The crown put it to Asfaha that he is doing the same thing now, “trying to leave a certain impression of yourself with the jury.”
Asfaha replied: “Now, no.”
Asked about his behaviour if he was released, Asfaha referred to the people who have spoken up for him during the hearing, saying that they have taught him how to approach the temptation of drugs or “subculture or negative associates.” He said he would reach out to the people who supported him for guidance or “by removing myself from the situation.”
Some of Asfaha’s testimony and portions of trial exhibits are under a publication ban ordered by Justice Breese Davies.
The case was the subject of a Toronto Star podcast and series.
The jury is expected to be sequestered later this week and begin deliberations. They will be asked to determine if Asfaha’s parole eligibility should be lowered. If it is lowered, it will still be up to the National Parole Board to determine if he should be released."
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog. FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."Lawyer Radha Natarajan: Executive Director: New England Innocence Project; FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true;
