{"id":25784,"date":"2017-09-15T03:53:48","date_gmt":"2017-09-15T10:53:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=25784"},"modified":"2017-09-14T21:56:10","modified_gmt":"2017-09-15T04:56:10","slug":"ottawa-teen-sentenced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2017\/09\/15\/ottawa-teen-sentenced\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa teen sentenced"},"content":{"rendered":"

The front doors to Ottawa\u2019s Congregation Machzikei Hadas on Nov. 17. (photo from Machzikei Hadas via CJN)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

An Ottawa teen who vandalized several Jewish buildings last autumn, and who professed pro-Nazi sympathies, was sentenced in August to a year in custody, including time served.<\/p>\n

The teenage male, who cannot be named because he was arrested as a minor, has been in custody for nine months, meaning he will serve another three months at Ottawa\u2019s William E. Hay Centre, a youth detention facility. At his sentencing on Aug. 31, he also received two years probation, with several restrictions.<\/p>\n

As part of his probation, the youth was ordered to write three 500-word essays, one each on a notable Jewish Canadian, a Muslim Canadian and a black Canadian. He also faces a curfew, restrictions on internet use and was ordered to stay away from the buildings he vandalized.<\/p>\n

The teen had pleaded guilty to five charges, including inciting hatred, mischief against religious buildings, threatening conduct, possession of weapons and breaching bail conditions from an assault conviction in 2015. The charges stemmed from a spate of incidents between Nov. 13 and 19, 2016, when spray-painted swastikas, white nationalist symbols and racial slurs were daubed on two area synagogues, a Jewish prayer house, a Jewish communal building, a mosque and a United Church that has a black minister. The Jewish targets were Congregation Machzikei Hadas, Kehillat Beth Israel synagogue, a Jewish prayer centre called the Glebe Minyan that is run out of a private residence and a building on Ottawa\u2019s Jewish Community Campus.<\/p>\n

The teen turned 18 soon after the offences occurred. After he pleaded guilty, the Crown prosecutor asked the judge to consider sentencing him as an adult, in order to treat his racist ideology, monitor his movements and designate him a long-term offender. But the judge, Peter Griffiths, denied that request, saying the accused has shown signs of progress that risk being undermined if he were sentenced as an adult.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope the judge is correct in his assessment and that [the teen\u2019s] progress continues, because the best outcome for our community is that he alters his worldview,\u201d Andrea Freedman, president and chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, told the CJN<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Freedman, who attended the court hearings, said she considered the sentence to be just. \u201cI think the judge was fair and tried to balance the need to infer that public safety is protected and that the sentence acts as a deterrent for others, while balancing the need to rehabilitate this young man,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Freedman, along with Linda Kerzner, chair of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, and Elly Bolleggraaf, a local Holocaust survivor, submitted victim impact statements to the court, saying the attacks shocked and hurt the city\u2019s 14,000-strong Jewish community deeply.<\/p>\n

Freedman told the CJN<\/em>, during the teen\u2019s sentencing hearing last May, that the accused \u201chas an extended history of racist and antisemitic views and, by all accounts, is completely unrepentant for his deeply traumatizing actions,\u201d and that he had refused treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccordingly, we feel we have no choice but to ask the court to consider a lengthy sentence and an extended probationary period, as well as a restraining order barring him from proximity to Jewish institutions,\u201d Freedman said at the time.<\/p>\n

At his sentencing hearing, Dr. John Federoff, a forensic psychiatrist who examined the teen, testified that the young man likely had schizophrenia and blamed his crimes on Jews.<\/p>\n

More recently, the teen apparently told youth workers that he\u2019s interested in removing racist tattoos from his body, expressed an interest in mental health counseling and has shown progress in vocational training while in custody, CBC News reported.<\/p>\n

Freedman said the teen apologized for his actions before receiving his sentence. \u201cWe\u2019re appreciative that this individual has been held accountable for his actions,\u201dshe said. \u201cOur primary concern is the safety of our community members.\u201d She added she is hopeful that the progress in the offender\u2019s behaviour noted by the judge \u201cis genuine and continues.\u201d<\/p>\n

While previous attempts at outreach have not succeeded, she said, \u201cwe continue to remain willing to engage with him in a sincere manner to help him alter his worldview. And we\u2019re hopeful that this is the type of engagement that will bring this individual to successfully change his ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne year in custody with a two-year probation is the longest sentence ever handed down a young offender for a hate crime,\u201d said Bernie Farber, executive director of the Mosaic Institute, who testified as an expert witness at the teen\u2019s trial. \u201cIt sends a strong message.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 For more national Jewish news, visit cjnews.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The front doors to Ottawa\u2019s Congregation Machzikei Hadas on Nov. 17. (photo from Machzikei Hadas via CJN) An Ottawa teen who vandalized several Jewish buildings last autumn, and who professed pro-Nazi sympathies, was sentenced in August to a year in custody, including time served. The teenage male, who cannot be named because he was arrested […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25785,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[801,56,7376],"class_list":["post-25784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-antisemitism","tag-ottawa","tag-vandalism"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}