A woman who allegedly swung a golf club at employees of a Scarborough Canadian Tire and threatened them with death before pledging allegiance to ISIS in court tried but failed to join the terror group earlier last year, crown prosecutors allege.
The attempt was revealed as the RCMP laid 14 terror-related offences against the suspect on Tuesday.
Court heard how at 5:15 p.m. on June 3, a 32-year-old woman walked into a Canadian Tire store in Cederbrae Mall, near Markham Road and Lawrence Avenue.
Police allege she walked into the store’s paint department and began to swing a golf club at employees and a customer of the store while also uttering threats.
When another staff member confronted her, she allegedly drew a large knife from underneath her clothing.
The woman, who was eventually disarmed and restrained, allegedly expressed support for ISIS during the dispute inside the store.
One employee suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
A suspect identified as Rehab Dughmosh, 32, was arrested a short time later and was originally charged with offences including assault with a weapon, assault, threatening death and carrying a concealed weapon.
When asked for her name at a court appearance on June 6, she said through an interpreter “ISIS… I pledge to the leader of the believers — Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.”
Al-Baghdadi is a longtime Islamic extremist from Iraq and the self-proclaimed leader of the so-called Islamic State.
On Tuesday, the RCMP laid 14 terror-related charges against Dughmosh in addition to the charges she previously faced.
She was charged with four counts of attempted murder, four counts of assault with a weapon, five additional weapons offences and one count of participating in the activities of a terror group.
The Crown alleges Dughmosh left Canada on April 24, 2016 and tried to travel to Syria with the intention of joining ISIS, but only got as far as Turkey.
Dughmosh is scheduled to appear in court after two weeks.
