Calgary man sentenced for stabbing Regina cab driver

A Calgary man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for the violent attack on his two friends and a Regina cab driver.

Leroy Redwood pleaded guilty to aggravated assault but doesn’t remember committing the crime in November 2016.

The three had been drinking since earlier in the day and got into a confrontation, with Redwood attacking his friends while taking the taxi to a bar that night.

The driver, Iqbal Sharma, got out to help but was then stabbed in the head and neck by Redwood. Sharma was placed in a medically-induced coma and had three brain surgeries.

Sharma had just immigrated to Canada four months before the stabbing and had planned to pursue a career as an engineer. His injuries have prevented him from doing so. He has mobility issues, requires a cane to walk and has trouble speaking despite being a fluent English speaker before the attack.

He did not attend the sentencing on Friday but gave a statement through the missing person’s liaison within the Regina Police Service’s victim’s services, Rhonda Fiddler.

“He is happy that this chapter is done and closed and he is looking forward to the future and moving forward with his life.”

During sentencing, the judge called Redwood the product of a childhood marred by addictions and the stabbing death of his father in 2005.

Redwood’s parents went to residential schools. He lived a transient life growing up, joining a gang, racking up 15 convictions as a young offender. His conviction for aggravated assault in the taxi attack is his first as an adult.

Redwood has been in custody since his arrest. With credit for time served, he has 4.5 years remaining in his sentence.