Man who stabbed Halifax optician to death in 2021 sentenced to life in prison

A man was handed a life sentence for killing a Halifax optician back in 2021.

A man who stabbed a Halifax optician to death in December 2021 has been formally sentenced to life in prison.

Cymon Felix Cormier was found guilty of first-degree murder on June 5, with Justice Christa Brothers telling the court she found the “frenzied attack” on 55-year-old Tony Nader was planned and deliberate.

A first-degree murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years. Brothers delivered the life sentence in Nova Scotia Supreme Court on Monday, warning Cormier he may never be released.

“It is a mandatory sentence that the judge has to impose but there’s still legal considerations in imposing a correct sentence,” explained Crown prosecutor Scott Morrison outside the courtroom.

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Cormier stabbed Nader at Insight Optometry on Brunswick Street the morning of Dec. 30, 2021.

Nader had been helping a customer at the time and that man tried to intervene. Cormier then attacked him, striking him in the head with the butt-end of the knife. The customer sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

Nader died in hospital from his stab wounds.

Cormier was arrested a short time later and charged with first-degree murder in Nader’s death. He was also charged with aggravated assault for injuring the man who intervened.

Cormier was found guilty of the lesser charge of assault causing bodily harm for attacking the customer. He was also sentenced Monday to 90 days for the assault, to be served concurrently with his life sentence.

When offered the chance to speak at his sentencing, Cormier declined.

“No thank you,” he told the judge.

‘Most haunting sound I’ve ever heard’

Two of Nader’s co-workers, who both left the business after his murder, submitted victim impact statements to the court.

Victoria Peterson, who worked with Nader for six years at Insight Optometry, said he was “deeply loved” by those who knew him, calling him “kind, compassionate, witty and wise.”

“It was impossible to be in his presence and not smile,” she told the court. “I can’t imagine someone less deserving of what happened to him.”

Peterson, who was in the clinic that morning, said she relived that day every time she stepped through the doors of the clinic. She quit her job six months later.

“Tony’s murder has affected me profoundly,” she said.

“The clinic – once a place of happiness and laughter – became a source of daily pain … I walked away from coworkers who had become dear friends and though I still miss Insight every day, I hope to find the strength to return someday.”

Peterson said her son, who had just turned 14 at the time of the murder, was terrified someone would come to the clinic and hurt her or someone else. She said they have both been in therapy since the incident.

Peterson also spoke of Nader’s final moments after he was stabbed.

“I remember standing between Tony – who lay dying on the floor – and the front door, wondering why I could hear the sirens but help wasn’t arriving,” she recalled. “Time seemed frozen. I could hear Tony fighting for each of his final, agonizing breaths.

“It’s the most haunting sound I’ve ever heard.”

Another co-worker, who declined to read her statement in court, wrote that she was reminded of Nader’s death every time she looked at his desk.

“When one of Tony’s patients would ask me what happened I could feel my heart skip a few beats and I would start to sweat,” she wrote in her statement. “Eventually I just talked over the questions.”

The woman said she developed anxiety after Nader’s death and a rapid heart rate kept her up at night. She recalled feeling angry at her co-workers, especially those who weren’t working that day, and only felt connected to the people who were working when Nader was killed.

Like Peterson, she too left the business six months later.

“It was difficult to lose that income but my head needed out of Insight,” she wrote.

Morrison said, in talking to the victim’s family and co-workers, it’s clear his death has had a lasting impact on those who knew him.

“It was, I think, something that nobody could have anticipated, nobody could have seen coming, and I think it just, it really had a profound impact on everyone,” Morrison told reporters outside the courtroom.

‘Tragic loss of life’

During Cormier’s trial, the defence argued he was not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder. Expert witnesses agreed Cormier was mentally ill but disagreed on whether he was criminally responsible.

The judge accepted that Cormier did know the difference between right and wrong, despite his mental illness.

During his sentencing, Brothers acknowledged Cormier had a difficult childhood and struggled with mental health, but “unlike Mr. Nader, your life is not over,” she told him.

She also said he will have a significant amount of time to reflect on his actions and “the disregard” he had for Nader’s “tragic loss of life.”

Brothers told Cormier she will ensure he has access to mental health and addictions programs in prison and urged him to take advantage of those resources.

As for why Cormier stabbed Nader, the Crown previously said they had a family connection.

“He suggested that there may have been some measure of abuse,” Morrison explained after the verdict was delivered in June.

“At this point, nobody knows whether or not there was any form of abuse. Certainly, there was none that was emerging at trial. So, the motivation for Mr. Cormier appeared to be the belief that he had been abused.”

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Callum Smith

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