We missed this when it was reported on October 17, but a teenager who was charged with aggravated assault in connection with the stabbing death of 60-year old John Ferreira has been linked to a Kitchener white supremacist gang called True White Boy. The gang had been mentioned in our timeline of racist/WN violence, for a series of assaults that occurred in Kitchener earlier this year, and has also been linked to break-ins and drug and weapons offenses.  

Teens admit different roles in killing on Iron Horse Trail


BY BRIAN CALDWELL, RECORD STAFF MON OCT 17 2011

KITCHENER — Two teenagers admitted very different roles Monday in an attack on New Year’s Eve that left a Kitchener man dead and his adult son with a serious neck wound. As a result, they also face much different consequences for the killing on the Iron Horse Trail near Victoria Park. Ryan Bates, 18, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and aggravated assault for wielding a knife in a drunken haze. He will now be sentenced as an adult. The youth who was with him admitted only to two counts of common assault. He was sentenced to time already served, plus two years’ probation. John Ferreira, 60, was stabbed seven times while out for a walk with his son, Shawn, 35, near their West Avenue home just a few minutes before midnight. He bled to death while his son called for help on his cellphone and tried to provide first aid despite a deep stab wound to his own neck. The killing took place a few minutes after the Ferreiras had met up with the teens on a muddy footpath near the trail and told them to get out of the way. The teens backed off, but were waiting for the father and son a short distance away. The two teens – both youths at the time of the attack - were initially charged with second-degree murder. But prosecutor Mark Poland accepted a guilty plea by Bates to the lesser charge of manslaughter because Bates was likely too drunk to form the intent to kill. A lawyer for Bates, meanwhile, conceded he should be sentenced as an adult even though he was six days shy of his 18th birthday at the time of the attack. That concession means Bates, a stocky man with close-cropped hair, can now be publicly identified. The key distinction for the youth, now 17, was that the prosecution couldn’t prove he knew Bates was using a knife during the assault. A statement of facts in Kitchener court limited his involvement to struggling and hitting one or both of the two men with his fists. The slight, 16-year-old youth also pleaded guilty to an assault while in custody since his arrest and breach of probation for wearing a gang bandana. Court heard he was associated with a street gang called the True White Boys, known for carrying out beatings near Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate Institute and following a white supremacist ideology. “It’s just appalling, this type of conduct, this type of attitude,” Justice David Carr said of his gang involvement. Time served since the youth’s arrest in early January amounted to the equivalent of 15 months once it was given enhanced credit by the judge. A dates for Bates’ sentencing in adult court has not been set. bcaldwell@therecord.com