Bridgewater teen gets bail on charges of plotting school attacks

Crown consents to 16-year-old boy's release into supervision of two 'responsible adults'

A Bridgewater teen accused of plotting attacks on students at two high schools has been granted bail with the Crown’s consent after spending almost four months on remand. The 16-year-old boy’s identity is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. He was arrested March 17 and charged with conspiracy to commit murder and uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm to students at Park View Education Centre in Bridgewater.

Last month, Bridgewater police laid a new charge of counselling someone — a Manitoba boy — to commit the indictable offence of murder. Police allege the pair were planning simultaneous attacks at schools in both provinces. The Bridgewater boy was scheduled to have a bail hearing Tuesday in youth court, but provincial Crown attorney Shauna MacDonald instead agreed to his release into the supervision of two “responsible adults,” including his mother and a man.

Judge Catherine Benton approved the bail conditions MacDonald negotiated with defence lawyers Shawnee Gregory and Claire Levasseur. The judge did not read the conditions into the record after she was assured by defence counsel that the youth was willing to comply with all the terms and that his supervisors were aware of their responsibilities. Benton docketed the case to return to court Sept. 2.

The public was excluded from the courtroom for part of Tuesday’s proceeding while the judge dealt with a new filing by federal Crown attorney Lee-Ann Conrod, who appeared with two RCMP officers. In addition to the exclusion of the public, Conrod and the defence asked that the contents of the federal file be sealed and banned from publication. Conrod said they were making the request under a section of the Criminal Code that allows for the exclusion of the public when a judge is satisfied it’s necessary for the proper administration of justice.

“It is our joint submission that giving access to the contents of this information, once it’s been done in court today, will certainly adversely identify (the youth),” Gregory told the court. MacDonald advised that she was not seeking a similar order regarding the provincial file. The judge granted the motion by the federal prosecutor and excluded everyone from the gallery except for the two Mounties, the accused’s mother and his other adult supervisor.

Bridgewater police searched the teen’s home March 17 and allegedly seized detailed handwritten plans, imitation weapons, including a crudely made pipe bomb and assault rifle, electronic devices, including a cellphone and a laptop, and articles of clothing with hate symbols and concerning comments on them. In a news release March 18, Bridgewater police said Interpol and the FBI had contacted them March 13 about an online conversation between two Canadian youths that began in February, in which the pair discussed “their desire to mount a violent attack on students at Park View Education Centre.”

The release said that “while the attack was not believed to be imminent, it was clear that they had committed some thought and planning to the idea.” On March 16, RCMP in Manitoba arrested a 14-year-old boy who had allegedly been talking to the Bridgewater teen about a plan to carry out an attack at Rivers Collegiate Institute in Rivers, northwest of Brandon. The Rivers boy was originally charged with uttering threats.

Police later added a murder conspiracy charge. MacDonald said last month that it was her understanding that the Manitoba youth was also being charged with counselling someone to commit murder. Before the Bridgewater boy applied for bail, he underwent three psychiatric and psychological assessments, performed by staff from the IWK Health Centre in Halifax.

Gregory requested the reports, saying the information and recommendations they contained would help the defence put together a release plan.