Teen guilty of conspiring ‘to murder as many Jewish persons as possible’ in unusual trial

A 17-year-old has been found guilty of conspiring to murder Jews in Ottawa, among other domestic terrorism charges, after an unusual one-day trial that preserves his rights to appeal.

The teen — inspired by ISIS and an unknown person who went by “Klm” and “Gh D” online — was planning to commit an attack sometime around Christmas 2023 using three pressure-cooker bombs, according to a 50-page agreed statement of facts filed in Superior Court by federal Crown prosecutors Wednesday.

He planned to pack the bombs with thousands of 6.35 mm steel ball bearings “to maximize the death and injury caused by each,” and to strap one of the bombs to himself to detonate at the end of his attack, the statement of facts reads.

“The specific location and targets of his plans shifted over time, but his overarching intention was to murder as many Jewish persons as possible in the attack,” according to the document.

In addition, the teen shared instructions about explosives with another teen, asked him to obtain an illegal submachine gun, and discussed other possible plans involving knives, firearms and vehicles as weapons.

He also sent and received instructions on killing someone, as well as propaganda videos and nasheeds (Islamic vocal music) glorifying ISIS in Arabic and English.

CBC News successfully argued in court to access and report on the agreed statement of facts. It had not been read aloud in court, and lawyers for a co-accused teen in the case had opposed the document’s release.

Neither teen’s name can be published due to a routine ban preventing the identities of charged youths from becoming public.

A rare proceeding

The teen pleaded not guilty to four of the seven charges he faced and invited the judge to find him guilty. The unusual move is akin to the “no-contest” plea commonly heard in U.S. criminal courts. It means the teen accepts punishment without admitting guilt.

Justice Ian Carter then retired to read the lengthy facts. He ruled later Wednesday afternoon that the Crown had proven the essential elements of the four charges beyond a reasonable doubt and found the teen guilty of each of them:

• Committing an offence for a terrorist group by conspiring and agreeing with the other teen — as well as another individual and a person or persons unknown — to commit murder from August 2023 into December 2023.
• Facilitating terrorist activity by making available and exchanging instructional material and propaganda from August 2023 into December 2023.
• Instructing someone to carry out a terrorist activity against Jewish people in October 2023.
• Facilitating terrorist activity by possessing explosive substances — two bottles of 100% acetone, five pounds of an oxidizer and 6,000 ball bearings — the day he was arrested in December 2023. All of it was found in his bedroom.

The youth and his counsel are now free to appeal pre-trial rulings that didn’t go his way about whether or not evidence should have been excluded, in addition to the findings of guilt.

A four-day sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later date, and Federal Crown prosecutors Kelly Reitsma, Giuseppi Cipriano and Jonathan Thompson will also ask for the teen to be sentenced as an adult.

FBI tip led to arrest

The youth has been held in custody without bail at a juvenile detention centre in Ottawa since he was arrested and charged in December 2023 by INSET, an RCMP-led team of law enforcement and intelligence partners that handles threats to national security.

It was the FBI that first tipped RCMP to the teen’s plot, a few months before his arrest. The FBI reported that the teen had used the social media platform Telegram to encourage someone in the U.S. to attack and kill Jews, and shared an accurate video on how to make an explosive substance.

During the investigation the teen left his iPhone on an OC Transpo bus on Nov. 22, 2023. CSIS retrieved it that day and kept it until it was seized by the RCMP the day after the teen’s arrest. Other devices were seized from his home as well.

Prosecutors are asking for the remaining charges against the teen to be adjourned to the sentencing hearing. They don’t want these counts stayed because if the teen wins any future appeal, the Crown might not be able to resurrect them:

• Facilitating terrorist activity by communicating instructions about explosive substances.
• Possessing explosive substances with the intent to endanger life.
• Possessing explosive substances.

Second teen’s trial set to begin Thursday

Two months after the first teen’s arrest, INSET arrested and charged another 15-year-old Ottawa boy alleged to have acted as a co-conspirator.

The second teen was granted bail under strict conditions this past October and is now 17. His judge-alone trial is expected to begin Thursday before a different judge.

Wednesday’s guilty findings against his alleged co-conspirator do not affect the second teen’s case. The charges against him have not been proven and he remains innocent.

He is charged with:

• Committing an offence for a terrorist group by conspiring and agreeing with the other teen — as well as two other individuals and a person or persons unknown — to commit murder from August 2023 into December 2023.
• Facilitating terrorist activity by making available and exchanging instructional material and propaganda from August 2023 into November 2023.
• Facilitating terrorist activity by seeking to acquire a prohibited firearm in December 2023.