Man, 24, pleads guilty to 3 charges in Mississauga mosque attack
Posted July 19, 2023 7:31 pm.
A 24-year-old man has pled guilty on charges connected to a bear spray attack at a Mississauga mosque last year.
Officers received a call regarding an assault just before 7 a.m. on March 19 at the Dar Al-Tawheed Islamic Centre, near Matheson Boulevard and Kennedy Road.
A witness said that several people were inside the mosque for morning prayers when multiple people were sprayed in the eyes and throat with bear spray. Members of the mosque were able to subdue the man while someone called the police.
Mohammed Moiz Omar of Mississauga was arrested at the scene.
Omar had initially been charged with assault with a weapon along with a slew of other weapons related charges. But police upgraded the charges, saying the offenses Omar is charged with constitutes terrorist activity under the criminal code.
He pled guilty to three of the seven charges he was facing on Wednesday, including administering a noxious substance and assault with a weapon.
The court heard the suspect had been planning the hate-motivated attack against the Muslim community for over a year with a list of mosques he was planning to attack.
Omar chose Dar Al-Tawheed Islamic Centre a day before he entered and discharged bear spray toward people during morning prayer while brandishing a hatchet.
“He made it very clear that he identified himself as an atheist and that he was driven with a clear hatred towards Islam,” explained Imam Ibrahim Hindy with the Dar Al-Tawheed Islamic Centre
Hindy said they were disgusted to hear some of the horrifying details that inspired the suspect to commit this act of hatred.
“We learned that our worst nightmares were true. We learned that this man was fantasizing about killing Muslims that he was watching videos of the Christchurch killing, that he expressed a particular happiness when he saw a Muslim woman at Christchurch being shot and killed. We learned that he had regret for not
succeeding in killing Muslims on the day he attacked our mosque.”
The charges are considered an aggravated punishment because his offences constituted terrorist activity and the prosecution is requesting Omar spend eight years behind bars.
His sentencing hearing is scheduled for next Tuesday.
