A new trial has been ordered for a Toronto-area man convicted in a fatal stabbing after Ontario's highest court found the trial judge erred in ruling that his confession was voluntary.
A jury found Hamza Othman guilty of second-degree murder two years ago, after he and his friends were involved in a street brawl in Mississauga, that left another man dead.
Court heard Othman and his friends had been asked to leave a backyard party to which they may or may not have been invited in October 2014 when one of the partygoers ``sucker-punched'' someone in their group.
Another of Othman's friends also got punched while trying to intervene but eventually the group left. Court heard that as they made their way to the street, they damaged a car mirror.
Between 20 and 70 people left the party to confront them, and court heard that in the ensuing fight, Othman _ who was 19 at the time _ fatally stabbed a man with a pocketknife.
Othman gave an inculpatory statement to police hours later but appealed the conviction on four grounds, including that his confession was not voluntary. The appeal court accepted his submissions on each of the grounds.