A woman who is facing terrorism-related charges after allegedly threatening people with a knife at a Scarborough Canadian Tire failed to attend a court appearance today.
A suspect identified as Rehab Dughmosh was arrested in June after an incident in which she allegedly swung a golf club at employees at the hardware store near Markham and Lawrence Avenues and threatened them with a knife while expressing support for the Islamic State.
Dughmosh was initially charged with seven charges, including assault with a weapon, assault and threatening death.
Earlier this month, the RCMP also charged her with 14 terror-related charges.
The Crown alleges that Dughmosh left Canada on April 24, 2016 and tried to travel to Syria with the intention of joining ISIS but did not go any further than Turkey.
Dughmosh was scheduled to appear in court today but did not attend.
It is not clear why Dughmosh was not in court.
“She didn’t attend court. I am not quite sure why she didn’t attend court but she wasn’t here. You’d have to ask the people at the jail why she wasn’t brought here,” federal Crown prosecutor Howard Piafsky told CP24.
During the brief hearing on Friday, the judge in the case appointed a friend of the court to ensure Dughmosh’s rights are respected during the legal process. Typically, that is done whenever an accused chooses to represent themselves.
The next court date in the case has been set for Aug. 15.
The judge has issued a warrant to retain jurisdiction over Dughmosh to ensure she appears in court at that time.
Dughmosh has been in custody since her arrest.
