G20 accused had ‘obsession’ with bombs, court told
But, judge says, intent to use explosives must be proven
Byron Sonne had an “obsession” with guns, explosives and the G20, and had amassed materials in his basement for the sole purpose of making a bomb, a Crown prosecutor says. “The Crown doesn’t have to prove what, when or where he (Sonne) was going to use the bomb,” Elizabeth Nadeau said in her closing arguments Thursday. Justice Nancy Spies said though Sonne possessed material to make explosives, the Crown must establish he intended to combine them. Nadeau admitted police didn’t find drawings or plans for a bomb plot. But she said Sonne couldn’t have had any other motive in mind for storing the trove of chemicals and devices police found in his basement. Among the many items Sonne purchased was potassium permanganate in January 2010, the same material found in an explosive device a man tried to detonate aboard a flight over Detroit in an unrelated incident in December 2009, court heard. Nadeau said if Sonne simply obtained the material in a bid to draw suspicion from authorities and deliberately raise “red flags,” his actions don’t support that claim. “(That) makes no sense,” Nadeau said, arguing Sonne took the potassium permanganate out of its package, left no warning tags nearby saying it was hazardous, and kept it in his laboratory where he had processes on the go.
Court has heard suggestions that Sonne, 39 — a hobby chemist and computer hacker arrested before the G20 summit in 2010 — was trying to test the limits of G20 security and intelligence, and trying to expose vulnerabilities in advance of the gathering of world leaders in Toronto.
When he was arrested, while riding a southbound Bathurst bus, he was carrying a camera and police scanner, among other things. He faces four counts of possessing explosive devices and a count of inciting others to commit an indictable offence.
Sonne took pictures of security cameras set up before the summit and also photographed the downtown security fence.
On June 16, 2010, Sonne tweeted “some cameras may be easy to interfere with, check it.” On June 19, he tweeted, “Don’t forget design flaw in most G20 fence(s). Holes are small enough to thread big bolts in for extra leverage and grip.” The Crown says this was an instruction on how to pull down the fence.
Nadeau also commented in court about Sonne’s seemingly contradictory politics.
She noted that the Forest Hill computer consultant tweeted in 2009 about a Tamil demonstration on the Gardiner Expressway saying, “F--- the Tamils. Get off my f---ing roads, you p-----.”
By 2010, he had plugged himself into activist networks, and was describing himself as more of an “anarchist.”
But after his arrest, he told police he had voted for Prime Minister Stephen Harper which, he admitted, wasn’t looked upon kindly by his friends.
Sonne’s defence lawyers are to begin their closing statements Friday.