Montreal police have arrested a 50-year-old suspect after a mosque was vandalized last week.
Sylvain Gingras was already wanted on charges of domestic violence, and appeared in court Thursday to face those charges.
Days after someone smashed a window and threw eggs at a mosque in Point St. Charles, officers from the Hate Crimes Unit arrested the suspect. He now also faces charges of mischief against a place of worship.
The Khadijah Masjid Islamic Centre was vandalized last Thursday and a suspect was identified on surveillance video.
The incident happened four days after the Quebec City mosque attack, which left six men killed and five others injured.
Though that case was not brought up in court Thursday, Gingras told the court, anyway: “It’s a good thing I didn’t cook the eggs. It would have been worse. It was just two eggs,” he said.
Concerned about Gingras’s mental state, the judge requested the suspect be seen by a psychologist before he returns to court Friday.
Gingras has a lengthy criminal record dating back 30 years, mostly for uttering threats and breaking court orders.
News of the arrest led to relief at the Khadijah mosque, where its president Kazi Doha said the community forgives the suspect.
“I'm ready to forgive him. I just want to win his heart. I want to speak to him. I want to hug him and I want to show him we are not terrorists. We don't harm anyone around us. We are here for our spiritual rituals,” said Doha.
