A man convicted of attempted murder for stabbing a roommate he believed had stolen his wallet — only to find it in his own pocket — has been sentenced to eight years in prison.
“The attack was a prolonged, ferocious stabbing… on a fleeing victim,” provincial court Judge Cynthia Devine said in a recently released written decision. “It is remarkable that the young victim survived.”
Adam Joseph Cooke, 28, admitted he had stabbing the 18-year-old male, but argued at trial he had no intention to kill him.
Court was told Cooke and the victim were sharing a downtown apartment, when on Aug. 15, 2022, Cooke couldn’t find his wallet, which contained more than $3,000, and accused the victim of stealing it.
When the victim repeatedly denied stealing the wallet, Cooke pulled a knife from his pocket and started stabbing him in the upper body and neck.
Security video in the apartment building showed the victim trying to escape in the hallway as Cooke held onto his shirt and continued to stab him in the back, head and neck.
The attack only ended when the victim made it to the door of the apartment manager, who let him inside and called police.
Cooke subsequently found his wallet — in the pocket of the pants he was wearing.
Cooke turned up at St. Boniface Hospital, where police arrested him. Cooke’s clothing was covered in his roommate’s blood and he was still carrying the knife he used to attack the victim.
Asked by police if he was trying to kill the victim, Cooke said: “I was just thinking about my money.”
“I knew I was just pissed off at that point,” he said. “Yeah, I snapped. I was like, ‘OK, well my life was in my wallet, so now you’re going to pay.’”
The Crown had recommended a sentence of 13 years in prison, while the defence urged Devine to impose a sentence of five years.
Court heard Cooke, whose family is from Trinidad and Tobago, has been diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder. He has no prior criminal record, but has a history of violence that brought him into previous contact with the court when his mother secured a protection order against him.
Police seized an unlicensed rifle from Cooke’s apartment that was not properly stored, for which Devine sentenced him to one year, to be served concurrent to his attempted murder sentence.
Defence lawyer Zilla Jones asked Devine to temper Cooke’s sentence in recognition of the racism he has faced as a Black man, including an incident in which he was shot in the leg and repeated incidents of police stopping him.
“There is no question that Cooke has suffered from anti-Black racism,” Devine said. “What is not as clear is how that has an impact on his moral culpability in committing this offence.”
“I accept that his experience of being shot and his distrust of the police because he is Black are a mitigating explanation for his possession of the knife and the rifle,” she said. “It is more difficult to understand how that mitigates the attempted murder.”
Cooke received credit for time served, reducing his remaining sentence to just under five years.
dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter
Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.
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