A former Victoria man charged in connection with a terrorist plot to injure or kill people attending Canada Day celebrations at the B.C. legislature has suffered from emotional issues his whole life, his defence lawyer said Wednesday.
“He’s struggled with addictions and finding his place,” Tom Morino said.
“But I know he’s trying to distance himself from drugs.”
John Stewart Nuttall, 38, and his partner Amanda Marie Korody, 30, were arrested in Abbotsford about 2 p.m. Monday. The two, who live in Surrey, were charged with taking steps to explode three bombs filled with rusty nails near thousands of people attending Canada Day celebrations at the legislature.
RCMP said Tuesday the public was never at risk because investigators had been monitoring the couple’s actions for months and made sure the devices were unable to explode.
Details of how they did that were not released.
Nuttall and Korody appeared briefly in Surrey provincial court Tuesday morning and are scheduled to appear in court again next Tuesday.
Morino will travel to Surrey this weekend to discuss the case with Nuttall, whom he has represented in the past.
“I expect there will be a massive amount of materials, thousands of pages of disclosure,” Morino said.
“I believe a bail hearing will be a long way off.”
RCMP Assistant Commissioner James Malizia said Tuesday that Nuttall and Korody were “inspired by al-Qaida ideology” and were “self-radicalized” to violence, although there is no indication they had support from any international terrorist organizations.
Morino said his client had converted to Islam and embraced the Muslim faith, but the alleged offences are “absolutely unrelated” to any mosque group or any other established organization. “I am not aware of any mosque with which he is affiliated.”
Members of Victoria’s Muslim community said the pair is not known among its members.
Morino criticized remarks made by Premier Christy Clark and federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, saying they were melodramatic.
“It was unfortunate that she and Toews seemed to seize upon this as an opportunity to further their own political ends,” Morino said.
“At this stage, I think everyone should take a deep breath and step back.”
Friends and acquaintances described Nuttall as a talented musician with a sometimes difficult personality who had substance-abuse issues.
“I think the closest thing to reality is that Jon [sic] was likely constantly frustrated with life, society, the world, and wanted to make an ‘impact,’ pardon the pun, with his life,” a former acquaintance, who didn’t want his name published, wrote in an email to the Times Colonist.
— With files from Mike Devlin and Richard Watts
