Man convicted in Chinatown stabbing spree handed life sentence

A man who stabbed one victim to death and wounded another during a series of random knife attacks in Ottawa's Chinatown neighbourhood four years ago received a life sentence in Ontario's Superior court on Wednesday. 

Honor Charley, who was 20 at the time of the attacks in April 2021, fatally stabbed Carl Reinboth, 64, and also stabbed 84-year-old Guocai Sun.

Reinboth, an outreach worker with the Somerset West Community Health Centre, was stabbed in the back and died in hospital. Sun was stabbed in the neck about two hours later but survived.

Charley was convicted in February of second-degree murder in Reinboth's death, but found not criminally responsible for attacking Sun.

Charley will serve a life sentence for killing Reinboth, with no parole eligibility for 10 years. With four years served, he will be unable to apply for parole until 2031.

For attacking Sun, Charley will now fall under the jurisdiction of the Ontario Review Board, an independent tribunal that takes over from the courts when a defendant is found not criminally responsible due to mental illness.

During his trial, surveillance footage from a Petro-Canada gas station at Bronson Avenue and Somerset Street W. showed Charley in the moments leading up to and during the attacks.