Area man connected to tow-truck trouble sentenced to 12 years

A man facing numerous charges in Brantford court was sentenced in a Toronto court to 12 years for his part in the drive-by shooting of a Toronto area tow-truck driver.

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Thomas Sliwinski, 42, was sentenced by Superior Court Justice Michelle Fuerst in a decision released last month for offenses in the GTA the judge called “cold, calculated, and callous”.

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Sliwinski pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Soheil Rafipour’s Dec. 24, 2018 death, admitting that he conducted surveillance on the man who assisted the eventual shooter.

He also pleaded guilty to unauthorized possession of a loaded restricted firearm and pointing that firearm.

The evidence for that crime was turned up by Brantford Police when they arrested Sliwinski in a stolen Mercedes in August, 2019.

While searching the car, officers found three pieces of .22 caliber ammunition. They had seized Sliwinski’s phone and got a search warrant to examine it, finding “alarming” videos, said the judge.

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The clips, made earlier that week, showed Sliwinski in the Mercedes pulling up beside Vaughan lawyer Lisa Carr, disengaging the safety of a “clearly loaded” handgun, aiming it at her and pulling the trigger.

In the video, Sliwinski seemed upset that the gun didn’t fire, saying “It jammed” or “It’s in the chamber” but noted Carr hadn’t seen his movements.

Carr had already been the target of what Fuerst called “a shocking campaign of intimidation and violence” that eventually caused her to shut down her successful civil litigation practice. She had been suing tow-truck operators on behalf of insurance companies due to illegal business practices and her Vaughan office was set afire and twice shot at.

Sliwinski told police he had been instructed by someone named “Zee” to kill Carr to pay off a drug debt.

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Instead, he said, he had an associate make the video of the “intentionally botched hit” because he feared for his safety and had been told his children would be killed or his wife’s fingers cut off.

Sliwinski told the judge he regretted the “trail of damage” he had left due to drug use. He said he was threatened by others and followed their orders. He had been arrested as part of Project Platinum – a major multi-police service investigation into crimes associated with the tow-truck industry in the GTA.

Fuerst noted the man has a lengthy criminal record and his crimes have had a major impact.

“Mr. Sliwinski’s activity furthered a many-months long campaign of terror intended to compel (Carr) to abandon her completely legitimate work for her clients,” said the judge, calling it an attack on the administration of justice.

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Fuerst said even if he intentionally botched the assassination of the lawyer, he still pointed a loaded gun at her and pulled the trigger.

“One can only imagine the horror she felt when she learned from police about the incident.”

In his arrests, Sliwinski is sometimes referred to as being from Oakville and other times Brantford.

Last week he pleaded guilty in Brantford’s Superior Court to charges that included possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking and possession of stolen property over $5,000, receiving a two-year jail sentence.

And, next August, he and co-accused Tina Flear and Salloum Jassem are scheduled for pretrial motions on murder charges in the death of Coby Carter. A fourth man, Abdelaziz Faiz Ibrahim, was also charged in Carter’s death but died in jail last August of a suspected suicide.

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Sliwinski wasn’t the only local to be arrested in Project Platinum: at least six other Brantford residents were charged, including Salloum Jassem, 35, currently on trial for the double-homicide of Larry Reynolds and Lynn Van Every, and his brother, Seif Jassem, 37, both who faced charges of conspiracy to commit murder, along with numerous drug and firearm charges in the highly publicized project.

But, after Jassem’s defense lawyers challenged wiretap and search warrant evidence in the midst of a preliminary hearing last year, all charges against the Jassems and many others charged in Project Platinum were suddenly withdrawn.

Others from Brantford or associated with the city who saw their charges withdrawn included: Marena Leachman, 24, and Heather Rowbottom, 43, (each faced charges of conspiracy to commit murder, drug charges and a charge of committing a crime for a criminal organization) ; Dwayne Counsell, 42, (50 charges of trafficking drugs and firearms offenses); Matthew Driver, 40, (two drug charges); and William Boyes, 43, (two drug charges)

Brantford’s Erin Prentice, 52, faced drug charges but was found guilty of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to commit a crime in 2021 and was sentenced to two years in jail.

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