A Manitoba man who rammed his truck into Prime Minister Trudeau’s home at Rideau Hall last year has been sentenced to six years in prison minus one year for time served.
Posted Mar 11, 2021, 05:30AM EST
A Manitoba man who rammed his truck into Prime Minister Trudeau’s home at Rideau Hall last year has been sentenced to six years in prison minus one year for time served.
WATCH: https://toronto.citynews.ca/2021/03/10/rideau-hall-manitoba-man-sentencing/
Corey Hurren will also be prohibited from possessing any firearms, ammunition or explosive substances for life.
Hurren had initially faced 21 weapons charges and one of threatening the prime minister. He pleaded guilty last month to seven weapons related charges.
In his sentence Ontario Court Justice Robert Wadden said the degree to which Hurren was armed was “shocking.”
“I find that Mr. Hurren represents an ongoing risk,” Wadden said.
“This was an armed aggression against the government, which must be denounced in the strongest terms.”
There was a risk that Hurren’s guns could be used to cause serious bodily harm or death, Wadden said.
“The deliberateness of Mr. Hurren’s actions and his intentional use of loaded weapons to make a political statement bring him a long way from a usual first offender caught with a single gun.
“Corey Hurren committed a politically motivated, armed assault intended to intimidate Canada’s elected government.”
The 46-year-old military reservist was arrested while he was he headed on foot to confront the Prime Minister on the morning of July 2, 2020.
He was initially accused of uttering a threat to “cause death or bodily harm” to Trudeau.
But according to an agreed statement of facts read in court on Feb. 5, Hurren told police he didn’t intend to hurt anyone, and that he wanted to arrest Trudeau to make a statement about the government’s COVID-19 restrictions and its ban on assault-style firearms.
He said he had hoped to make the arrest during Trudeau’s daily pandemic briefing outside Rideau Cottage.
Hurren, who told police he hadn’t qualified for emergency aid benefits, was angry about losing his business and his guns. He believed Canada was turning into a communist state.
Hurren also told police at the scene that he wanted to show Trudeau “how angry everyone was about the gun ban and the COVID-19 restrictions” and said the prime minister “is a communist who is above the law and corrupt.”
Data retrieved from his cellphone, Facebook and Instagram posts included exchanges with friends about “conspiracy theories related to the Canadian government,” as well as a “sacrifice theory” related to the date of the mass shooting in Nova Scotia last April and suggestions that COVID-19 is a hoax.
Hurren later told a doctor he expected to be shot dead.
Crown prosecutors had been seeking a six-year sentence, saying Hurren’s actions posed a serious threat to public safety.
Hurren’s lawyer, Michael Davies, had sought a sentence of three years for his client, describing him as a hardworking member of society who suffered financial difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic that put him into a state of depression.
The judge said the defence request was not reasonable in this case, adding Hurren represents and ongoing risk and should seek treatment for a mood disorder and major depression.
