CANADIAN TIRE ATTACK
Woman gets seven years in prison for 2017 Daesh-inspired assault,
A woman who attacked Canadian Tire employees with a knife and a golf club while declaring support for terror group Daesh was sentenced to seven years in prison, a judge ruled Thursday.
In a short and unusual jury trial, Rehab Dughmosh, 34, was convicted last month by a jury of terrorism-related charges for two separate incidents.
For the June 3, 2017, attack at a Scarborough Canadian Tire a short walk from her home, she was convicted of two counts of assault with a weapon (a golf club and a knife) and one count of carrying a weapon (a bow) for a dangerous purpose. She was also convicted on one count of leaving Canada in April 2016 to commit an offence, specifically joining Daesh.
The only evidence presented at the trial was a statement of facts agreed to by Dughmosh, who otherwise did not participate in the trial process for what she called religious reasons.
The Crown sought a sentence of eight years in total, reduced from12 years because of mental health issues documented in psychiatric reports on Dughmosh ordered by the court.
In her ruling Thursday, Superior Court Justice Maureen Forestell said terrorists must be denounced with lengthy prison sentences and noted Dughmosh prepared for and planned for an attack she intended to cause harm and fear to many. Her offences were serious, she said.
However, her mental illness played a “central role” and is a significant mitigating factor, particularly during the Canadian Tire attack, Forestell said. Her symptoms were “intense and overwhelming” at that point. She also found mental illness made Dughmosh vulnerable to extremist beliefs at the time she attempted to join Daesh in Syria in 2016.
A psychiatrist found Dughmosh may have schizophrenia or an anxiety disorder and that the onset of those symptoms contributed to her adopting an extremist belief system, Forestell said.
Her mental illness “does not absolve her of responsibility, but it was clearly a causal factor,” she said.
Dughmosh has also been cooperating and improving with treatment, Forestell said.
According to her medical records from jail, she has been taking anti-psychotic drugs, and although she continued to hear “command hallucinations,” she said she did not need to act on them. By the summer of 2018, she was in partial remission.
“Her mental health has continued to be stable,” according to the most recent records filed with the court, although Dughmosh still heard “command hallucinations” directing her to self-harm. She showed a “high level of co-operation” with the medical staff and her treatment, Forestell said.
Even without psychotic symptoms, Dughmosh continued to show support for Daesh, but her beliefs were expressed with “less intensity” and she denied violent ideation, according to one psychiatrist who submitted a report to the court.
Forestell said this continued support must be considered, even if linked to her illness, because it may make her dangerous to the public.
The seven-year sentence is “significantly less” than would have been imposed on an offender who did not have a mental illness and who had not shown co-operation and progress with treatment, Forestell said.
According to the agreed statement of facts and other court documents, Dughmosh’s plan to join Daesh in Syria was thwarted after her brother reported her to the RCMP. She was not charged after she was returned to Canada by Turkish authorities.
On the day of the attack at the Canadian Tire, Dughmosh left her home carrying bags full of homemade weapons, including stiffened straws with nails attached to the ends, and arrows.
She unexpectedly ran into her husband in the lobby of their building and he took away the bags, eventually calling the police out of concern for her safety. Dughmosh left the apartment again with the bow and a knife concealed in her clothes and went to the Canadian Tire.
No one was seriously injured during the attack, where Dughmosh was disarmed of both a golf club and butcher’s knife by Canadian Tire employees, who restrained her until the police arrived.
After the sentencing decision, Crown prosecutor Jason Wakely commended the Canadian Tire employees for “their bravery in responding to this very fearful (frightening) situation.”
He added that they subdued Dughmosh without anyone sustaining any major injuries.