Back in 2013, a B.C. couple gained infamy for planting what looked like pressure-cooker bombs on the front lawn of the B.C. Legislature on Canada Day – and the Crown is revisiting their case this week.
Most Victorians who were in downtown at the time remember the chaos that ensued when people were asked to evacuate the area.
The lengthy trial of the couple – John Nuttall and Amanda Korody – who were accused of plotting to kill dozens of innocent people as part of a terrorist scheme, came to an end in June 2015.
Previous judgments
The pair was found guilty of conspiring to commit murder, possessing an explosive substance and placing an explosive in a public place, by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Bruce.
However the case was put on hold by Bruce, who stated that the couple was maneuvered into plotting the bomb threat by the RCMP.
The Crown challenges the verdict
According to a CTV News report, the Crown is appealing Judge Bruce’s ruling, based on the argument that the RCMP’s undercover operation did not manipulate the accused into doing anything, and that the terrorism plans were drawn up entirely by the couple themselves.
Documents filed by the Crown at the BC Court of Appeals show their argument that Nuttall and Korody were newly converted to Islam, and were acting through a terrorist organization by implementing scare tactics as an act of “jihad” against Canadian “infidels”.
Moreover, the Crown’s appeal will also question the Supreme Court judge’s decision to dismiss two of the four criminal charges against the couple.
Proceedings are scheduled to begin on Monday, January 15th.
The counterargument
Lawyers on behalf of Nuttall and Korody agree with Judge Bruce’s decision the stay the proceedings, and see no reason to reopen the case.
They argue that the couple believed they would be executed by the alleged terrorist group they were involved with if they did not go ahead with the bomb threat.
The accused were also unemployed, methadone-dependent, and recovering heroin-addicts who barely had any other friends or family.
