Quebec City mosque shooter sentenced to at least 40 years in prison

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Alexandre Bissonnette, who pleaded guilty to killing six men at a Quebec City mosque two years ago, will be allowed to ask for parole at the age of 67, a judge decided Friday.

Bissonnette, 29, will serve an automatic life sentence for shooting and killing the men at the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre on Jan. 29, 2017. He has been behind bars since the shooting.

He will be allowed to go before the Parole Board of Canada after serving 40 years, ruled Superior Court Justice François Huot — in a decision that left survivors and families feeling "disappointed," "dismayed" and "gutted."

Huot called Bissonnette's attack an "unspeakable tragedy" that "tore apart our social fabric."

During a sentencing hearing that lasted nearly six hours, the judge read out parts of his 246-page decision to a packed courtroom, describing Bissonnette's actions as "premeditated, gratuitous and abject."

"His crimes were truly motivated by race, and a visceral hatred toward Muslim immigrants," Huot said.

Bissonnette was emotionless as the judge read out his decision and was quickly escorted out of the courtroom.

Anger and disappointment
After a gruelling day, survivors like Saïd El-Amari were visibly upset by the outcome. He choked down tears of anger as he spoke outside the Quebec City courtroom.

"Today is a sad day. We are committing 17 orphans to 40 years of suffering, at the end of which they will have to show up again to keep this assassin behind bars. That suffering starts today and will last 40 years -— I am floored."

Aymen Derbali, who was hit by seven bullets and is now paraplegic, said he almost fainted when he heard the judge's final decision.

Saïd El-Amari, who was shot twice during the mosque shooting, said he was "gutted" by the judge's decision to allow Bissonnette to ask for parole after a 40-year period. (Maxime Corneau/Radio-Canada)

"I would have liked to see justice served today," said Derbali.

Megda and Amir Belkacemi, who lost their father in the attack, extended their support to the families of the victims of Bruce McArthur, who was also sentenced today on eight counts of first-degree murder, with a chance of parole in 25 years.

Earlier in the day, Justice Huot did a minute-by-minute run through of the shooting.

Armed with a .223-calibre rifle and a 9-mm Glock pistol, Bissonnette was carrying 108 bullets when he entered the Islamic cultural centre, shooting into the crowded prayer room as Sunday prayers were ending.

Killed in the violence were Ibrahima Barry, Mamadou Tanou Barry, Khaled Belkacemi, Abdelkrim Hassane, Aboubaker Thabti and Azzeddine Soufiane. Five others were critically injured.

Leaders of the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre expressed their profound disappointment after hearing the sentence, asking the Crown prosecutors to appeal the decision. (Maxime Corneau/Radio-Canada)

Bissonnette pleaded guilty in March 2018 to six counts of first-degree murder, five counts of attempted murder for the men he wounded, and a sixth count of attempted murder for the 35 people present that night, including four children.

Both the Crown and Bissonnette's lawyers said they have to review the lengthy sentencing decision and would not be commenting.

'Cruel and unusual'
While first-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence, the judge had to decide how long Bissonnette would have to wait before he could seek parole.

In 2011, Stephen Harper's Conservative government adopted Article 745.51 to the Criminal Code, which allows a judge to impose consecutive rather than concurrent periods of parole ineligibility for multiple murders.

Had Huot followed the Crown's recommendation to make the parole ineligibility periods consecutive, for a total of 150 years, it would have been the longest prison sentence in Canadian history.

Instead, Huot decided the 25-year parole ineligibility periods will be served concurrently for the first five counts, and added a 15-year period of ineligibility for the sixth count.

He said sending a criminal to die in prison would constitute "cruel and unusual punishment" that goes against the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. By doing so, Huot's ruling modifies Article 745.51.

Huot went through the aggravating factors he felt merit a harsher sentence than a 25-year period, saying Bissonnette planned out his attack carefully, targeting vulnerable, unarmed people in their place of worship, taking aim at the country's right to freedom of religion.

Children inside the prayer room also could have been killed, the judge pointed out.

But he also underlined, several times, the mental health problems Bissonnette had been struggling with in the months leading up to the shooting — one of the mitigating factors he considered.

"I cannot punish you as I would have, a man who was fully sound of mind."

Bissonnette's defence team as well as Crown prosecutors said they would review the lengthy decision before commenting or opening the door to an appeal.

 

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One in Ontario killed 8persons.willbe 25years in prison

 

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One in Ontario killed 8persons.willbe 25years in prison

Serial killer Bruce McArthur given concurrent life sentences, can apply for parole after 25 years

Feb. 8, 2019
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He is a “morally bankrupt” and “highly dangerous” serial killer, a murderer who preyed upon society’s vulnerable, and whose crimes have inflicted a “nightmare” on so many: family members and friends, Toronto’s LGBTQ community, refugees and immigrants, the city as a whole.

“The outrage and upset and the fear caused by the accused is felt by all,” said Ontario Superior Court judge John McMahon, reading from his reasons for sentencing inside a full courtroom Friday.
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The men Bruce McArthur killed: They are, top, from left to right: Kirushnakumar Kanagaratnam, Majeed Kayhan, Skandaraj (Skanda) Navaratnam and Abdulbasir Faizi; and bottom, from left to right: Selim Esen, Soroush Mahmudi, Dean Lisowick and Andrew Kinsman. (Star Wire Services)

Crown attorney Michael Cantlon leaves the sentencing hearing Friday for serial killer Bruce McArthur. (Rene Johnston / Toronto Star)

Det.-Sgt. David Dickinson leaves court Friday after the sentencing for serial killer Bruce McArthur. (Rene Johnston / Toronto Star)

Shelly Kinsman (right) gets a hug from community activist Susan Gapka after the sentencing for serial killer Bruce McArthur at 361 University Ave. (Rene Johnston / Toronto Star)
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The distrust he sowed “continues to this day,” McMahon said, and he has shown “no remorse.”

In a ruling that laid bare the horrific impact of the serial killer’s crimes, and characterized his behaviour as “pure evil,” “perverted” and “depraved,” McMahon sentenced Bruce McArthur, 67, to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years, after convicting him of eight counts of first degree murder.

The serial killer will almost certainly die in jail. He will be 91 when he becomes eligible for parole, and, even if he is still alive, “due to the savage nature of the killings, it is highly unlikely” he’d ever be granted parole, McMahon said.

“Let’s be honest here: I do not see Mr. McArthur seeing daylight,” said Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders, at a press conference held shortly after McMahon’s ruling came down.

“If he were to be paroled, then we’d have to start questioning our sentencing in this country.”

The sentence, criticized by some as being too lenient, brings partial closure to a tragic case, just over a year after McArthur, a grandfather and self-employed landscaper, was arrested suddenly in January 2018.

McMahon heaped praise on Toronto police for the investigation that led up to that day, which included saving the life of “John,” the man McArthur had handcuffed in his room at the time of the arrest, a result of the round-the-clock surveillance McArthur had been under at the time.

“I have no hesitation in concluding that, if it were not for the police intervention on January 18, 2018, John would have been the ninth victim of Mr. McArthur,” McMahon said in the reasons he gave for the sentencing.

At a press conference, Saunders acknowledged Friday’s decision is not the end of the case. Police were questioned about past contacts with McArthur, and why the killer, who killed his victims over a seven-year span, beginning in 2010, was not caught sooner.

“I do believe that the public has some questions,” said Saunders.

Citing the continuing review by former Court of Appeal judge Gloria Epstein into how police investigate the case of missing persons, Saunders said he was committed to transparency when it comes to scrutiny of the lengthy investigation into McArthur.

 

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The existence of the photos, and evidence that he revisited these showed they were for McArthur’s own “perverted sexual gratification,” McMahon said.

Crown prosecutors on the case released a statement Friday saying they would not be commenting on the serial killer’s sentence, but called the McArthur case a “crime of stark horror.”

“Although there can be no closure from a crime of this magnitude, we hope that these eight convictions … will assist our community in beginning a new chapter of healing," the statement said.

McArthur pled guilty in court late last month to murdering eight men, who had ties to Toronto’s Gay Village: Andrew Kinsman, 49; Selim Esen, 44; Majeed Kayhan, 58; Soroush Mahmudi, 50; Dean Lisowick, 47; Skandaraj (Skanda) Navaratnam, 40; Abdulbasir Faizi, 42, and Kirushnakumar Kanagaratnam, 37.

While many friends and family of the victims chose not to comment after the sentencing, some said no sentence the court could impose would be suitable.

“Having a life sentence isn’t enough,” said Nicole Borthwick, who was friends with three of McArthur’s victims. “This community is broken and it will be broken for a long, long time.”

Assisted by a friend of his, Kanagaratnam’s family said they were hoping McArthur would never be able to leave prison.

“Ultimately, there is really no sentence that is going to bring peace to the losses that occurred in the community. So it’s really a bittersweet ending for everyone,” said Gab Laurence, manager of community initatives at St. Stephen’s Community House, where McArthur’s seventh victim, Esen, was training to become a peer support worker.

While McMahon detailed the horrific impact the crimes have had on the city’s LGBTQ community, he noted there were “harbingers” that the community “is both strong and resilient.”

Laurence echoed that sentiment, saying it would be easy, given the circumstances, “to live with distrust for the rest of your life.”

“But, then, when you kind of zero in, and think about the kind of person Selim was, so caring and so trustworthy, himself, I think he is a reminder that we can still make connections and communities and find people who are geniunely loving.”