TORONTO — An Ontario Superior Court judge has found a second Ottawa youth guilty of terrorism charges linked to an 2023 plot to kill Jewish people.Justice Kerry McVey convicted the young person Friday of conspiracy to commit murder through involvement with a terrorist group and of facilitating terrorist activity by seeking to acquire a prohibited firearm. She acquitted him of a third count of facilitating terrorist activity by making instructional material and propaganda available.The youth, who cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, had pleaded not guilty. He was 15 when arrested in February 2024. CBC reported that McVey told the court she was satisfied he had joined the conspiracy and that his discussions about obtaining a firearm were sincere.“I find nothing in (the teen’s) communications that reasonably suggests he was anything other than serious,” McVey said..His trial began in April, one day after his co-accused — also a youth who cannot be identified — was found guilty on four charges by Justice Ian Carter.That case was resolved in an unusual one-day proceeding after the co-accused invited a finding of guilt while preserving appeal rights.Federal Crown prosecutors had filed an agreed statement of facts stating the co-accused, inspired by the Islamic State, planned an attack around Christmas 2023 using pressure-cooker bombs packed with thousands of steel ball bearings.The document stated his overarching intention was “to murder as many Jewish persons as possible.”McVey concluded the youth convicted Friday had conspired with his co-accused and a third individual who was not charged. The RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team investigated the case. Both teens face potential adult sentences; the Crown has indicated it will seek one in the matter decided Friday.
