It would have scared the daylights out of each and every one of us.
Two weeks before Christmas, on Dec. 11, at 1:15 p.m., a 60-year-old homeowner approached the door to the sight of a 21-year-old woman on her stoop.
It was only once she opened the door that an armed male jumped out from his hiding spot and punched her in the face.
At Newmarket court, Samantha Faryadpoor, 27, was handed three years and 10 months after pleading guilty to the Vaughan robbery that prompted a large public outcry when the victim and police took the rare steps of releasing images of the beating to the public.
The court heard how, after the man pushed the woman to the ground in her Thornhill home, he began to demand money and the location of the safe.
“She consistently denied the existence of a safe, he punched her in the face, repeatedly, with a closed fist,” court documents read. “Faryadpoor continued to search the residence. She was seen and heard talking on the phone with someone who said ‘get the money.’”
Faryadpoor claimed she was searching for the cash and did not see the assault that left the woman “shaken to the core,” according to court documents.
Soon after, the pair fled the house with less than $1,000.
The homeowner was hospitalized with a broken jaw, nose, two fractured orbital bones, a broken finger and ankle. She had to relearn how to walk and remains unable to do so properly. She continues to suffer from frequent headaches and dizziness, the court heard.
“It left the female victim shaken to her core, her sense of safety, her trust and her family’s ability to live without fear all decimated,” said Justice Michelle Fuerst, who added that the attack prompted the victim and her husband to leave their home due to emotional trauma.
Fuerst listed several aggravating circumstances, including the number of injuries to the victim, the fact the robbery was planned and motivated by “pure greed” and, finally, that Faryadpoor’s behaviour at the door showed she believed someone might be home.
“It involved a brazen and terrifying violation of the sanctity of the victim’s home,” Fuerst added. “It was perpetrated against a completely innocent member of the community and, by extension, her family, for financial gain. The post-offence photographs of the victim underscore that she was subjected to horrific violence. She was left permanently injured and psychologically scarred.”
The mitigating circumstances include her age at the time of the attack and her guilty plea.
After credit for pre-sentence custody, she will serve 15 and a half months and face two years of probation, a weapons prohibition order, DNA order and non-communication order with the victim.
Two of the other men charged in relation to the incident had all charges withdrawn in the years following.
Reeke Ellis was charged in 2021 with possession of a firearm, aggravated assault and robbery before the charges were withdrawn in 2022.
Jamel Lewinson had aggravated assault, break and enter and other charges withdrawn in 2021.
