Toronto man pleads guilty to stabbing neighbour 42 times over gospel music

Christopher Wood, 69, admitted to murdering Etop Ituen on Coxwell Ave. after the victim's radio playing Christian music triggered what he called "murderous" feelings.

Guilty plea in fatal Coxwell Ave. stabbing over radio noise

Christopher Wood, 69, pleaded guilty this week to the second-degree murder of his neighbour Etop "Jon" Ituen, 61, whom he stabbed 42 times on July 27, 2023, behind a supportive housing building at 126 Coxwell Ave. in Toronto, Toronto Sun Crime reports.

According to the agreed statement of facts presented to the court, Wood carried out the attack after the sound of gospel music playing from Ituen's balcony radio left him consumed by rage. Just four minutes after Wood was spotted entering the rear yard of the building, Ituen was found lying in a pool of blood, a red knife at his side. Wood was standing over him, covered in blood. The knife's sheath was recovered from the pocket of his shorts.

"Mr. Wood admits that he caused Mr. Ituen's death by stabbing him repeatedly with a knife," the agreed statement read. "It is also agreed that Mr. Wood intended to cause Mr. Ituen's death or intended to cause him bodily harm that he knew was likely to cause death and was reckless as to whether death ensued."

The two men lived across the street from each other in supportive housing for people with mental disabilities on Coxwell. Wood had visited the rear of Ituen's building at least twice on July 25, 2023, complaining to a neighbour about the loud gospel sermons coming from the radio on the balcony of Unit 201.

The following day, Wood wrote to his social worker, Colletta Johnson, warning that the noise was pushing him toward violence. "It is triggering great anxiety and panic in my psyche," he wrote in the letter presented to the court. "It is also triggering great rage, but yet again, as has happened many times in my life, I am being victimized. I have developed very suicidal, and conversely, murderous feelings. I do not know what to do."

By the time Johnson received the letter on July 27, Wood had already acted. Toronto Police received reports of a stabbing behind 126 Coxwell that morning.

Friends of Ituen described a man whose warmth was instantly recognizable. He would often cruise the neighbourhood on his e-scooter with a ghetto blaster playing his favourite Christian music. Born in Nigeria, Ituen was the youngest of eight children and came to Canada as a young man. His passions included sports, running, and, later in life, cooking. The support worker at his building told mourners at his funeral that Ituen regularly prepared meals for neighbours so they would have food ready when they came home.

"He was one of the kindest souls you will ever meet," a friend said at the service, which remains accessible online. "He was truly an angel who walks on this Earth."

Ituen died of multiple stab wounds to the head and neck. He was 61 years old.

The case is the second this month before the downtown Toronto courthouse involving a fatal dispute between neighbours. A jury is currently deliberating in the separate case of Reeyaz Habib, who allegedly was killed after complaining repeatedly about smoke from a neighbour's charcoal barbecue in Liberty Village.

Wood now faces a mandatory life sentence for the murder of a man whose only apparent offence was listening to gospel music on his balcony.

Source: Toronto Sun Crime