‘Toronto 18’ Member To Be Sentenced On Jan. 18; Crown Wants Up To 18 Years
Posted January 6, 2010 6:48 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The sentencing for a 22-year-old Ontario man who confessed to being part of a homegrown terror cell has been put off until Jan. 18.
Saad Gaya’s sentencing had been scheduled for Wednesday but he will now be sentenced alongside Zakaria Amara, 24, a leader of the plot who also pleaded guilty.
Gaya has already apologized for his part in a conspiracy to blow up truck bombs calling it a “shameful crime.”
He says he was “politically naive”‘ and believed the actions of the group dubbed the Toronto 18 would make Canada withdraw troops from Afghanistan.
Gaya told the court in December he didn’t know the intended targets were the Toronto Stock Exchange and the downtown offices of Canada’s spy agency.
The former McMaster University science student was arrested in 2006 while unloading a delivery truck filled with three tonnes of bags marked ammonium nitrate fertilizer.
That’s three times more ammonium nitrate than was used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people.
Gaya has pleaded guilty to belonging to a terrorist group and intending to cause an explosion that would likely cause serious bodily harm.
The Crown is seeking a sentence of up to 18 years, saying he was a willing participant in a plot that would have caused serious harm or death.
The defence suggested a sentence in the range of 9 to 15 years.
