VANCOUVER — A Whalley couple has been found guilty of plotting to blow up pressure cooker bombs containing rusty nails, nuts and bolts outside of the B.C. Legislative Buildings in Victoria on Canada Day in 2013.
Amanda Korody, 30, and her husband John Stuart Nuttall, 39, heard the jury's verdict Tuesday in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver, following a four-month trial. After three days' deliberation the jury convicted them of conspiracy to commit murder and possessing explosives for the benefit of or on behalf of a terrorist organization.
Their next appearance is June 9, to fix a date for a hearing in July when Justice Catherine Bruce will consider the defence's application for an acquittal on grounds police had entrapped the couple during a sting operation, thus breaching their Charter Rights.
Bruce decided not to enter the convictions until she hears arguments on the alleged entrapment matter.
At the time of the arrest, police said they monitored the couple, who rented a basement suite on 97A Avenue, for five months before arresting them in Abbotsford on Canada Day.
The RCMP claimed Nuttall and Korody were "self-radicalized" and acted independent of any national or international terrorist organization.
Assistant RCMP Commissioner James Malizia said at a press conference after the couple's arrest in 2013 that the plot was "inspired by al-Qaeda ideology."
Some people who knew the couple said at that time that they didn't believe Korody and Nuttall were sophisticated enough to have conceived of such a plot by themselves.
After their arrest it was revealed Korody and Nuttall were recovering drug addicts on welfare.
tom.zytaruk@thenownewspaper.com