Ghanaian-Canadian Tefai Opoku-Boadu has walked out of Toronto’s Superior Court of Justice a free man after being found not guilty of second-degree murder in a case stemming from a deadly confrontation at a Toronto subway station more than two years ago.

The 24-year-old Kitchener resident emerged from the courthouse on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, visibly relieved after Justice Jennifer K. Penman delivered the verdict.

Speaking briefly to Global News after leaving court, Opoku-Boadu expressed relief over the outcome, saying the long legal battle had finally ended and that he was now free.

The case dated back to June 25, 2024, when Opoku-Boadu and 39-year-old Matthew Rumble, a father of seven, encountered each other aboard a TTC bus heading toward Jane subway station.

Court evidence showed that the situation began after Opoku-Boadu sprayed perfume or cologne while on the bus. Surveillance footage presented during the trial captured an exchange between the two men before they eventually exited at Jane Station.

The confrontation then escalated into a physical fight. Rumble suffered a fatal stab wound to the chest and later died.

Opoku-Boadu did not dispute that he stabbed Rumble but maintained throughout the trial that he acted in self-defence.

His lawyers, Karen Symes and Bianca Benincasa, argued that Rumble was the person who brought the knife into the confrontation and that Opoku-Boadu managed to take control of the weapon while defending himself.

Prosecutors, however, argued that Opoku-Boadu possessed the knife and had the intention required for a murder conviction.

Canada’s judicial system is broken.

Tefai Opoku-Boadu walked out of Toronto’s Superior Court of Justice Wednesday morning telling Global News he was “feeling good.” Just minutes earlier, the 24-year-old Kitchener man was found not guilty of second-degree murder.

“I got… pic.twitter.com/aOSXlmR46y

— 🇨🇦 Antonio Tweets (@AntonioTweets2) August 31, 2026

After reviewing the evidence from the seven-day judge-alone trial, Justice Penman ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Opoku-Boadu was not acting in self-defence. She found it more likely than not that Rumble introduced the knife into the confrontation.

Despite the acquittal, the judge stressed that the decision should not diminish the tragedy of Rumble’s death or the enormous loss suffered by his family.

For Opoku-Boadu, however, Wednesday’s ruling brought an end to more than two years of uncertainty.

Walking away from the courthouse, he indicated that his focus is now on moving forward with his life after the dramatic legal victory.