By Jaclyn McRae
A 21-year -old prospective Algonquin student who was fatally stabbed outside Elgin Street’s Living Room nightclub on Aug. 23 was just a week and half away from beginning his studies in mechanics.
Jabeir Jemmie briefly made it towards Frank Street before paramedics arrived, and died of his injuries later that morning in hospital.
The Living Room nightclub has since shut down, disconnected its telephone and closed its website. Management and staff are unable to be reached for comment.
“Elgin is a busy street, right? It’s just a block and a half away from the Ottawa police station,” said Wader Jemmie, the victim’s younger sister, who begins her studies in development service work at Algonquin this coming January.
She describes her brother as humble, always kind and caring for others. He attended Woodroffe High School prior to applying at Algonquin.
He was the oldest of five children born to Abdulrahman Jemmie and Suad Elzein from Eritrea and a role model to his younger siblings.
Adding to the family’s grief, they were not informed that Jemmie was alive in hospital for six hours before passing away.
The case is covered in a shroud of silence with very few details of the stabbing known and little progress in the investigation. A source, who asked not to be named, speculates the Living Room’s affiliation with gang-related activity may be a reason witnesses are not coming forward.
“I’m not sure if it was even gangs, to be honest,” said another source who was present at the scene the night of the stabbing, and also wished to remain anonymous. He implicates two opposing neighbourhoods of the city as the catalyst to the altercation.
Police don’t have much to add.
“Well there hasn’t been very much cooperation and there hasn’t been much assistance from the public,” said Staff Sgt. Rob Drummond of the Ottawa police as to why the case is progressing so slowly.
“I don’t know if you noticed how many times we were in the media doing public appeals asking for assistance,” he said.
The distress continues for the Jemmie family as they receive little information from police so as not to compromise the investigation.
Jemmie’s sister hopes someone will come forward regarding the stabbing.
“Whoever knows anything, you can just call in anonymously. Your name doesn’t have to be out there. If anything happened to you, you would want the same thing,” she said.
Anyone with information regarding the fatal stabbing of Jabeir Jemmie on Aug. 23 2014 is asked to contact Ottawa police’s Major Crime section at 613-236-1222 ext 5493.