Crown: Granted $5,000 bail, Brabant must avoid alcohol and weapons, respect curfew SUE MONTGOMERY The Gazette Wednesday, June 14, 2006 http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/montreal/story.html?id=c1afea13-5cca-46c9-b39e-1ddd216e9994 A handcuffed Pierre Brabant cried in the prisoner's box yesterday as his mother and sister told Quebec Court his behaviour in attacking and shouting racial slurs at two Muslim men on the weekend was completely out of character. But crown prosecutor Nadia Berube wasn't buying their portrait of Brabant, 34, as a hard-working bon vivant who liked listening to music and hanging out with friends. Nor was she falling for the defendant's story that he'd simply had far too much to drink Friday night and "lost control." The allegations against Brabant had to be viewed in the context of the recent arrests in Ontario of 17 young Muslim men suspected of planning terrorist attacks in Canada, as well as the Supreme Court challenge on the constitutionality of security certificates, which began yesterday, the prosecutor said. "After the Toronto arrests, vandals attacked mosques and there were threats," Berube said. "What's this have to do with Toronto?" Quebec Court Judge Isabelle Rheault asked. "In this case, the people were targeted by his threats," Berube replied. "It's a crime attacking race and religion." Rheault ruled that given Brabant's relatively unblemished past - he was charged with assault and mischief in 1991 and 1992, respectively - he would be released on $5,000 bail. She ordered Brabant, a delivery truck driver, to stay away from alcohol, respect a 10 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew and not possess weapons. The accused, who lives a block away from the Rosemont mosque where the attack occurred, is not to go within 50 metres of the building. Brabant is to appear in court Aug. 30 to have a date set for his preliminary inquiry. Abderrazek Barhoumi and Said Jaziri, the imam at Al-Qods mosque on Belanger St. E., came out of the building about 1 a.m. Saturday. They saw a man walk toward them and lift his sweater to show a knife in his belt. Brabant is alleged to have asked one of the Muslim men if he had a bomb on him, then asked both if they wanted to die as martyrs, the police report said. Saying, "I want to kill you, damn it," Brabant is then alleged to have pulled out the knife and pointed it in their direction. Barhoumi took off on foot, police said, with the assailant close behind. Jaziri got into his car, called 911 and started following the two men. Two police cars arrived on Iberville St., where they arrested and searched Brabant. "He said he didn't do anything but then admitted to asking if the men had explosives," Berube said, reading from the police report. "Once inside the police car, Brabant said, 'You're on the side of the terrorists now.' " Police found a knife with a 20-centimetre blade wrapped in newspaper on the ground nearby. Outside the courtroom, defence lawyer Daphney Colin brushed off the term "hate crime" when asked about the charges against her client, which include assault, uttering death threats and possession of a weapon. Montreal police called the attack a hate crime when they arrested Brabant on Saturday morning. "This is not a hate crime at all," Colin said. "He's a normal person who drank too much. "We can't have cases proceeding in connection with what's happening around the world. If the Toronto arrests hadn't happened, you wouldn't be here today," she told reporters. Salam Elmenyawi, of the Montreal Muslim Council, wondered why "every time a Muslim is attacked, people say the guy is either crazy or drunk." "We have five Muslim men who were jailed for committing absolutely no crime," he said, referring to men held without charge under security certificates. "We either apply the law equally across the board or we admit there is institutional racism against Muslims." Sarah Elgazzar, of the Canadian Council on American Islamic Relations, said she was disappointed with the decision to release Brabant. Such attacks, she said, makes Muslims nervous. "This was obviously a threat to someone who was a symbol of Islam," she said. smontgomery@thegazette.canwest.com © The Gazette (Montreal) 2006 |
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