Woman agrees she attacked a Canadian Tire store in 2017 for Daesh,
Accused, whose plan to travel to Syria was nixed, refuses to enter plea
A year after her plan to leave her husband and two children to join a terrorist group in Syria was thwarted, Rehab Dughmosh entered a Scarborough Canadian Tire in 2017 and shouted, “This is for ISIS,” as she attacked employees and customers with a golf club and a butcher’s knife. Dughmosh, 34, admitted these facts after they were read by the Crown Wednesday afternoon during a highly unusual jury trial in which Dughmosh, who is self-represented, otherwise refused to participate.
The six-page statement of facts is the only evidence heard by the jury which is expected to begin deliberations Thursday.
Simply replying “no,” to questions from the judge, Dughmosh refused to pick jurors, call evidence in her defence or enter a plea after she was arraigned.
Superior Court Justice Maureen Forestell ordered that pleas of not guilty be entered on the four terrorism-related charges Dughmosh faces: two charges of assault with a weapon “for the benefit, at the direction of, or in association with a terrorist group, namely ISIS” — another name for the Daesh terror group — carrying a bow for a dangerous purpose, and leaving Canada for the purpose of committing an offence.
According to the statement of facts, Dughmosh was quickly subdued and disarmed of both golf club and knife by two Canadian Tire employees and a customer, and held until the police arrived. No one was seriously injured, though Dughmosh bit one of the employees, David Benham, on the arm when he wrestled her to the ground after she pulled out the knife and started to slash it toward him.
After the statement of facts was read to the jury, Forestell asked Dughmosh if they were true. She said: “Yes.”
It is rare for accused persons to refuse to participate in trials — but not unheard of.
The most similar recent case may be that of Chiheb Esseghaier, who was convicted by a jury of several terrorism related charges. Esseghaier said he would only be judged by Qur’an, not the Criminal Code, and refused to be judged by a Canadian court. He declined to participate in his lengthy trial and, like Dughmosh, represented himself.
Esseghaier is now appealing his conviction and sentence, claiming mental illness impaired his ability to make rational decisions about his case.
“Most ISIS supporters who have been brought to trial have not used this as a defence, but technically it fits squarely in their belief system, which sees democracy and so-called manmade laws as not applying to them,” said Amarnath Amarasingam, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and a prominent Canadian researcher of Islamic extremism and terrorism.
Amarasingam said he has seen similar defences raised by socalled sovereign citizens, who claim the law does not apply to them, but not specifically in the case of a Daesh supporter.
“It is very rare to see a defendant refuse to recognize the jurisdiction of a court in Canadian criminal law, whether in a terrorism trial or otherwise,” says Michael Nesbitt, a University of Calgary law professor who has compiled every case in Canada involving charges under the terrorism legislation.
Dughmosh, who appeared in court in a black tunic, longsleeved white shirt, dark grey vest and a black niqab — a religious garment covering her head and face apart from her eyes — was assisted by an Arabic interpreter who translated the facts as they were read out. She also held a copy of the facts in her hands and appeared to follow along as the Crown read them out.
According to the statement of facts, Dughmosh attempted to travel to Syria in April 2016 to join Daesh, but was sent back to Canada by Turkish authorities after her brother reported her to the RCMP.
Upon her return to Canada, Dughmosh was interviewed by the RCMP. She denied that she intended to join Daesh and claimed she was only going to visit family in Damascus. After a followup interview with Dughmosh in June, the RCMP chose not to lay charges and closed the file. Dughmosh continued to live with her husband, Anas Hanafy, and their two children, though by June 3, 2017, Hanafy and Dughmosh were religiously divorced and separated. They were not yet civilly divorced.
In the spring of 2017, Dughmosh began crafting homemade weapons including a child’s shovel she made into “claws,” 36 cardboard handles studded with screws and 76 nine-inch straws stiffened with paper and tape with screws on the ends. She also, on March 30, 2017, bought a compound bow and two arrows from the Canadian Tire she later attacked.
On June 3, 2017, Dughmosh packed three bags with her homemade weapons as well as 31 barbecue skewers, scissors and a hammer, Wakely said. She also packed two arrows. She concealed the bow and an eight-inch butcher’s knife under a robe she was wearing.
She left her apartment at 4 p.m. with the bags, but unexpectedly ran into her husband in the lobby. He asked her what was in the bags, looked inside one and took them away from her. He refused to let her take them back — but he didn’t know about the bow and the knife she had hidden in her clothing, Wakely said.
At 4:40 p.m., she left the apartment again and walked to the Canadian Tire about five minutes away. First, she told an employee she wanted to buy some arrows. The employee said he’d have to take them directly to the cashier, as per store policy. Dughmosh, however, had no money on her. She continued to wander through the store, picking up a hammer, heavy wrenches and pliers. She then picked up a golf club — a driver. She put the golf club and her shopping basket into a shopping cart.
She then took out the bow and a black and white homemade Daesh banner. She tied a bandana with a Daesh symbol around her head. With the golf club in one hand and the bow in the shopping cart, she pushed the cart towards the paint section where three Canadian Tire employees were standing with two customers.
Dughmosh “charged towards them, swinging the golf club and repeatedly shouting ‘Allahu Akhbar’ and ‘This is for ISIS,’ ” Wakely said. She swung the golf club towards employee Naima Tourabi, who grabbed Dughmosh’s arm. Employee David Benham intervened and pulled the golf club out of Dughmosh’s hands. Dughmosh then pulled out the knife and slashed it toward Benham. Benham grabbed her knife-wielding arm and, with the help of customer Viyagulam Fernando, wrestled her to the ground. Another employee, Kyle Craig, managed to get the knife out of Dughmosh’s hands. A cellphone video recorded a discussion between Craig and Dughmosh as they waited for police to arrive. Craig asked why she came there and was trying to stab people.
“What’s that gonna give you?” Craig asked.
Dughmosh said: “Revenge for Muslims. To stop killing Muslims in Syria and Iraq … You are killing ISIS, I’m from ISIS, ISIS is Muslims, stop killing Muslims.”
After her arrest, Dughmosh told RCMP investigators she started supporting Daesh in 2014 and read about them on the internet — two Daesh propaganda videos were found on her phone. She said she pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, the leader of Daesh — but no one from the terror group actually received her pledge.
She told investigators she decided to do the attack on a Saturday because there would be many people at the mall and went to Canadian Tire because that was where she’d bought materials for her homemade weapons. She also said she did not want to kill people, only hurt them and make them feel fear. She was disappointed that she failed to hurt anyone in her attack, she told investigators, but added the important thing was to try.
“It is very rare to see a defendant refuse to recognize the jurisdiction of a court in Canadian criminal law.” MICHAEL NESBITT LAW PROFESSOR