TORONTO - A terrifying terrorist conspiracy to attack Canadian targets was an unrealistic "jihadi fantasy" that was deliberately hidden from a young man on trial for his role in the alleged plot, an Ontario court heard Thursday.
In closing arguments, defence lawyer Mitchell Chernovsky said the Crown failed to prove the group it alleges was bent on wanton destruction was in fact a real terrorist cell.
While the group's leader vowed to "cripple Canada" and began recruiting people to implement his scheme, even the Crown's star witness testified the man was little more than a self-aggrandizing braggart.
"He lied about everyone and everything," Chernovsky told Superior Court Justice John Sproat.
"One wonders if he was even capable of telling the truth."
Even if the man did have genuinely nefarious ideas, his "complete ineptitude" precluded anything from ever happening, the lawyer said.
"All of this is a fantasy, a delusion, with zero probability of ever being implemented."
In fact, the lawyer said, another of the leaders broke away from the group because he knew nothing would ever happen.
While the co-leader may really have had violent plans in mind, there is almost no evidence tying him to his client, Chernovsky said.
The accused is one of 18 people arrested amid a frenzy of international publicity in the Toronto area two summers ago in what police alleged was a homegrown terrorist plot bent on havoc in Canada.
Charges against seven of those arrested -- including three other youths -- have since been stayed or dropped.
Court has heard the accused, who was 17 at the time of his alleged offences, was an enthusiastic participant in camps the Crown says were intended as preparation for the terrorist attacks.
The young man, now 20, has pleaded not guilty to terrorism-related charges, including that he aided a terrorist group by shoplifting camping supplies and walkie-talkies.
Chernovsky pointed to evidence the leader went to "extreme lengths persistently, without exception, without fail" to keep his recruits in the dark about his plans.
Those plans are alleged to have included attacking Parliament Hill, beheading politicians and truck-bombing various targets such as nuclear power plants and RCMP headquarters.
Chernovsky noted that even the Crown's own star witness testified the accused was unaware of the alleged plot.
The young man, a Hindu convert to Islam, was a "naive" teenager with no reference points in the Muslim religion or geopolitical reality, co-defence lawyer Faisal Mirza told court.
Court has heard he had a troubled relationship with his family and looked up to the leader as a mentor in his new religion.
His association with the group's members -- with other Muslims of similar age -- is no indication of guilt but was "integral" to his religious conversion, as was his attendance at the local mosque, Mirza said.
Court also heard that evidence regarding the leader's character was "unequivocal" -- that he was a fabricator who lied to his closest associates to promulgate a view of himself as "this great leader."
"(The leader) had no honour, even among his own inner circle," Mirza said.
As a result, he said, anything the man said that might incriminate the accused simply cannot be believed.
Neither the accused nor any of the adults still to be tried under Canada's fledgling anti-terrorism laws can be identified by court order.
