Ottawa teen in hate graffiti case continues to cling to racist ideas: Crown

The Ottawa teen who spray-painted racial slurs and swastikas on religious buildings last November continues to harbour racist ideas and has received no programming to deal directly with racism, court heard Tuesday.

The teenaged male has pleaded guilty to five charges including inciting hatred, mischief against religious buildings, threatening conduct, possession of weapons and breaching bail conditions from a previous assault conviction in 2015.

The new charges stem from a series of incidents between November 13 and 19, 2016, when the teen — who cannot be identified because he was a youth at the time of the incidents — spray-painted racial slurs and symbols of white nationalism on two synagogues, a Jewish prayer house, a mosque, and a church whose minister is black. 

No programming to deal with racism

During a sentencing hearing which continued this week, the court heard from the teen's probation officer who supervised him before the November offences, as well as a youth worker from a secure youth residential facility where he remains in custody.

Both workers confirmed a number of incidents suggesting an ongoing problem with racist and white supremacy ideology, but said he has received little programming to deal with it. 

While in custody at the William E. Hay Centre a youth worker — identified as Melanie — confirmed the teen lost his computer privileges in December 2016 for a short period after drawing a swastika on a page he was building.

One of Melanie's colleagues also wrote in a report the teen was likely responsible for the sudden outburst anti-Semitic slurs of another youth in custody.

And in another report, a youth worker wrote about concerns over comments from the teen, including: "the only way to get rid of them [Jews] is to burn them."

Positive reviews in custody 

At the same time, Melanie continued to write positive reviews of the youth, confirming to the court he had reached the top level of a reward system at the youth facility.

Court heard probation officer Jessica Christie, who supervised the teen after his conviction on a previous, unrelated assault charge. The charge stems from an attack on another teen at his high school, whom he accused of being Jewish in late 2015.

Teen's own father voiced concern

Christie confirmed there was no programming or therapy related to white supremacy, nor had she spent any time exploring or assessing his attitudes despite a phone call from the teen's own father. The accused's father expressed concern in the weeks prior to the November graffiti spree that his son had obtained a pellet gun and was influencing the family's younger son with white supremacist ideas, court heard.

The pellet gun was found on the teen at the time of the November arrest.

In previous testimony from forensic psychiatrist Dr. J. Paul Federoff, court heard nearly six out of 10 men who had scored as high as the teen on the assessment had committed another violent offence within five years.

Crown prosecutor Moiz Karimjee asked the court to consider sentencing the teen as an adult so that he can be monitored in the long term. In fact, the Crown is also seeking to have the teen designated a long term offender.

Adult sentence not appropriate, defence lawyer argues

The teen's lawyer, Jasna Drnda, argued her client should not be sentenced as an adult, citing areas in which he has made improvements. 

Drnda highlighted with witnesses how the teen had managed to finish his remaining high school courses while in custody and had taken part in a job training program in construction. 

Melanie testified that in her recent interactions with the teen he had become interested in working and taking part in other programming at the youth centre.

"I'm not sure he'd get that in the adult system," she said. 

The Crown is expected to call more witnesses when the sentencing hearing continues on June 13 and 21.