Former Halifax bouncer gets four years for manslaughter in patron’s death

Former Halifax Alehouse bouncer Alexander Levy leaves the courtroom on Nov. 26, 2025, after he was found guilty of manslaughter and criminal negligence causing death. (Callum Smith/CTV News Atlantic)

A former Halifax bouncer found guilty of manslaughter in the death of a bar patron on Christmas Eve will spend four years behind bars.

Alexander Pishori Levy, 40, was accused of choking Ryan Sawyer, 31, outside the Halifax Alehouse on Dec. 24, 2022.

Levy was found guilty of both manslaughter and criminal negligence in Nova Scotia Supreme Court on Nov. 26, 2025.

On Friday, Justice James Chipman sentenced Levy to four years in custody. He also issued a 10-year mandatory weapons prohibition and mandatory DNA order.

“It is tragic. Mr. Levy will no doubt carry the emotional burden of these events for the rest of his life,” said Chipman while delivering the sentence in Nova Scotia Supreme Court.

“Ryan Sawyer was a loving, loved young man taken down in the prime of his life. I know that this sentence will do little to ease the terrible suffering for Ryan’s family and friends who must continue to go on with their lives without him.”

Chipman granted a conditional stay on Levy’s conviction of criminal negligence causing death, noting the offence “arises out of the same delict.”

Twenty witnesses, including 19 Crown witnesses, testified at Levy’s trial last year. They included first responders, Levy’s former co-owners from the now-shuttered Halifax Alehouse, bouncers, witnesses who captured cellphone video, as well as Sawyer’s twin brother and his cousin.

The lone defence witness was Levy, who testified in his own defence.

During the trial, court heard that Levy had asked Ryan Sawyer and his brother Kyle to leave the Halifax Alehouse, and things escalated when he escorted them outside the bar.

Levy testified that he squeezed Sawyer’s neck for 10-to-15 seconds, but the Crown argued it was much longer than that, closer to two minutes, when considering witness testimony and video footage.

Sawyer later died in hospital.

The defence had asked the judge to consider a self-defence argument and noted Levy had used the “rear-naked chokehold” on bar patrons about 100 times before.

Chipman sided with the Crown, stating he did not believe Levy’s testimony, and found his actions that night to be “unreasonable.” He said Levy used “extreme violence” to subdue Sawyer, who went into cardiac arrest.

With files from CTV News Atlantic’s Callum Smith

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