A Windsor offender is asking for a reduced sentence after a jailhouse attack, inmate threats and courthouse comment.
Malique Calloo, now 30, says he was attacked in jail one month after a jury convicted him of manslaughter in the death of Daniel Squalls, 24.
Squalls was shot 15 times by Calloo on Nov. 28, 2022, in the culmination of years of “bad blood” between the two men.
Calloo took the stand to testify on his own behalf during Wednesday’s sentencing hearing.
History of threats or violence
After the shooting, Calloo admitted that he left Canada and hid in the U.S. until he was arrested in July 2023, nine months after the shooting.
Not long after he was taken into custody at South West Detention Centre in 2023, Calloo says an inmate unknown to him, said he had been offered $10,000 to beat Calloo “within inches of my life.”
The stranger told Calloo he denied the offer but did confirm it was in retaliation for Squalls murder.
Three years later, and moments after his verdict was delivered on April 1, 2026, a member of the Squalls family said in court to Calloo “Your [expletive] ain’t making it outta there (jail),” as she exited the courtroom.
The following month, Calloo was attacked inside South West Detention by an inmate unknown to him, as evidenced by surveillance video shown in court Wednesday.
“It’s for Danny,” Calloo alleges the inmate attacker said. “He said, Wait till you get to Joyceville. You aren’t going to make it out of there alive,” Calloo told Justice Maria Carroccia.
Calloo was punched in the head and placed in a headlock. He slipped out and punched back before Corrections Officers intervened and stopped the fight.
He wasn’t seriously hurt, but Calloo’s lawyer Adam Weisberg says the three issues have left Calloo fearing for his safety in the federal prison system.
“A lot of people in there have nothing to lose,” Calloo said.
“Apparently there’s something waiting for him at Joyceville (Institution),” Weisberg said in his submissions.
Weisberg is asking for a sentence of eight years because of the seriousness of shooting someone 15 times, in broad daylight across from a daycare, with a weapon that still has not been found and by a shooter who fled to the U.S.
However, he wants the judge to reduce the sentence based on three specific mitigating factors:
- Morris factors: Calloo grew up in a dangerous and poor neighbourhood in Toronto where he was exposed to violence at a young age, where he developed distrust for police and he has faced anti-black slurs throughout his life
- Vigilantism: the threats of violence and attack have left Calloo fearing for his life in the federal system
- Duncan credit: Calloo has been in custody for more than one thousand days, a year and a half of which spent “triple bunking” at South West Detention Centre because of lockdowns or staff shortages
If the judge considers all of the above, and gives Calloo credit for the more than four years he’s already been in jail, Weisberg is hopeful the judge can bring the sentence down to two years less a day a day to keep Calloo out of the federal system.
Location ‘drives’ prosecutor
Assistant Crown Attorney George Spartinos said the location of the shooting is “extremely” aggravating.
“I cannot think of a more aggravating place to commit a shooting,” Spartinos said late Wednesday.
The shooting occurred around 4 p.m., across the street from a busy daycare where children were playing outside.
“It’s lucky no one else was hurt!” Spartinos said, noting one of the 15 bullets could have ricocheted towards the children.
“The daycare went into lockdown, which is not something that happens here in Windsor.”
As a result, Spartinos is asking the judge for a federal prison sentence of 12 to 15 years mostly because of the location, otherwise he said he would have asked for less than 10 years.
On the anti-Black racism issue, Spartinos said he would never question Calloo’s upbringing or the racism he has faced.
The crown did note, however, there are members of the Black community who aren’t afraid to call police when they are threatened.
Regardless of racism, Spartinos reminded the court, Calloo chose to acquire an illegal firearm and bring it with him to pick-up his young daughter that day.
Spartinos says nothing came of the alleged “bounty” to beat up Calloo and even then, the fight in jail didn’t occur for two and a half years, and a month after he was convicted to manslaughter.
“Fights happen all the time in jail,” Spartinos said.
As for the courtroom comment, Spartinos and the judge agreed, it was a “highly emotionally charged and tense trial” and the family was visibly upset and “likely disappointed” with the verdict of manslaughter and not second-degree murder.
Finally, with regards to time spent in lockdown or “triple bunking” in jail, Spartinos asked the judge to give it “some” consideration, but not the year and a half the defence requested.
Spartinos argued Calloo’s fear for his own safety is not up for debate in the court of law.
“It’s up to the jail to keep all of their inmates safe,” Spartinos said.
Calloo apology
Calloo apologized to the Squalls family to conclude Wednesday’s hearing.
“There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think about Danny’s family,” Calloo said.
“Bringing a gun was the worst decision I’ve made in my life. If I didn’t Danny would still be here. He was a father, a son, a human being and I know his family will never forgive me. I won’t forgive myself.”
Justice Carroccia said she needed time to consider her judgment and will sentence Calloo on July 29th.