Man behind Cambridge No Frills knife attack to be sentenced this month

Warning: This story contains details of a violent attack that some may find disturbing. CambridgeToday has chosen not to run graphic security camera footage of the incident.

A Cambridge man who viciously attacked a 21-year-old worker at the Franklin Boulevard No Frills in 2022 because the victim was talking to his daughter will be sentenced this spring after he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and possession of a weapon for dangerous purpose in February.

Siddique Malik was arrested immediately after the Dec. 11 attack that sent the No Frills employee to hospital with serious lacerations to his neck and back.

Malik, 44, has a prior record for violence and was convicted in Brampton in 2007 for assault causing bodily harm. 

In surveillance video entered as evidence, but too graphic to share publicly, the victim is seen near the front of the grocery store's checkout area with other staff members around 8:44 p.m.

A minute later he talks briefly with another employee, later identified as Malik's daughter, as Malik emerges from an aisle.

He walks toward the checkout lane where his daughter is and lunges at the victim with a knife, hitting him in the upper back.

The victim, in shock, tries to flee, but Malik pursues him with two more thrusts of the knife, striking him as he moves outside of the camera range.

Malik's daughter confronts her father in an attempt to stop him.

In an agreed statement of facts from the Ontario Court of Justice, witnesses described hearing Malik yell "get away from my daughter" and "how do you like that."

Immediately after the attack, Malik moves past his daughter, enters an open checkout lane and appears to attempt to make a purchase.

The statement of facts says he concealed the knife used in the attack under a shelf in one of the aisles.

Before police arrive, the video shows the victim return to the front of the store holding his neck and dripping blood before a bystander braces him as he collapses to the floor. 

Two more bystanders rush to his aid to stem the flow of blood.

Malik paces briefly before he moves out of camera range down one of the aisles.

A police officer appears three minutes later, sees the victim lying flat, his head cushioned by a package of toilet paper used by bystanders to stop the bleeding, and calls for backup. 

Malik then emerges, identifies himself as the attacker and is arrested without incident.

Paramedics arrived about 8:53 p.m. to treat the victim's injuries before transporting him to hospital in Hamilton.

He suffered a deep laceration across his trachea that penetrated through skin and muscle and "a very deep laceration" to the left trapezius, penetrating to the bone.

Each laceration was about seven centimetres long and required sutures and staples to close the wounds and control the bleeding, reads the statement of facts.

The victim "continues to suffer ongoing physical effects from the stabbing."

In an interview with CambridgeToday the week following the attack, the victim's father, Phil Lopez, said his son's wounds would heal but he'd likely need help recovering from the trauma he suffered.

Sentencing submissions for the case will be heard April 29 followed by sentencing at a later date.